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Butterfly Stool
Iconic Designs

Butterfly Stool

About the Design

Consisting of two gracefully curving and identical molded plywood shells that recall butterfly wings and are fastened together by a single brass crossbar, the Butterfly stool by Sori Yanagi (1915–2011) is the most acute mid-century merging of Eastern and Western sensibilities.

When he introduced the structured chair to a market that had until then been defined by tatami mats, Yanagi upended Japanese tradition. But the Tokyo-born furniture designer, who created the all-plastic Elephant stool during the same year in 1954, demonstrated reverence for the past with his piece, too: The chair’s two inverted, L-shaped plywood components, constructed by molding methods made popular by forward-looking American designers Charles and Ray Eames, have been compared to calligraphic forms and resemble the regal, spare torii gates that serve as entrances to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, bringing together the sacred and mundane worlds.

The son of Soetsu Yanagi — the founder of Mingei, the Japanese folk art movement — Sori studied painting and architecture, and later worked for French architect-designer Charlotte Perriand when she was appointed an arts and crafts advisor to the Japanese Board of Trade in 1940. Yanagi became her travel companion in Japan, learning about European modernism and French design, and eventually switched his focus from architecture to design. As a product designer, he was immensely prolific and worked steadily until his death in 2011. Yanagi’s wide range of items, from Sony’s early “H Type” tape recorder (1951) to children’s toys to pedestrian bridges to a best-selling stainless-steel teakettle, more than half a million of which are sold yearly in Japan, defined postwar Japanese society. His products are both practical and distinctly modern, and are characterized by an affinity for both new shapes and simple, functional forms. As a designer, Yanagi’s modernist focus on efficiency and structure yielded a legacy of creative pieces that not only struck a nerve in Japan, but defined its postwar society as well.

The Butterfly stool, an early-career design first manufactured by Tendo Mokko, has remained in production since the 1950s — it’s currently available from Vitra in maple and rosewood. Soon after it debuted, the stool won the Gold Medal at the Milan Triennale of 1957 and later entered the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and elsewhere. Simple and sculptural, the Butterfly stool is Yanagi’s most celebrated and well-received piece of furniture.

Butterfly Stool

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Butterfly Stool by Sori Yanagi
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Lille, Hauts-de-France
A butterfly stool, model "S-0521/M", by Sori Yanagi, in wood and patinated brass, manufactured by Tendo Mokko, Japan, with the old editor’s label, model designed in 1954.
Category

Vintage 1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Brass

Sori Yanagi BUTTERFLY Stool
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Artist/Designer; Manufacturer: Sori Yanagi (Japanese, 1915-2011); Tendo (Japan) Marking(s); notes: no marking(s) apparent Materials: rosewood plywood, brass Dimensions (H, W, D): 15....
Category

20th Century Stools

Materials

Wood

Sori Yanagi, "Butterfly" Stools, Walnut, Brass, Japan, 1954
By Tendo Mokko, Sori Yanagi
Located in High Point, NC
A set of first production walnut "Butterfly" stools, designed in 1954 by Sori Yanagi and produced by Tendo Mokko, Japan, c. 1960s. Unlabeled. Seat height: 15.75"
Category

Vintage 1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Brass

Sori Yanagi "Butterfly" Mid Century Stool in Plywood Produced by Tendo, 1980s
By Sori Yanagi, Tendo Mokko
Located in Stockholm, SE
Rare and iconic mid century stool model "Butterfly" in molded plywood by Sori Yanagi produced by Tendo Mokko, Japan ca 1980s. Acquired from the very original owner who bought this st...
Category

Vintage 1980s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Plywood

Sori Yanagi Rosewood and Brass Butterfly Stool Vintage
By Sori Yanagi
Located in North Miami, FL
This iconic and collectable butterfly stool is a work of simple and elegant sculpture by the Japanese designer Sori Yanagi. It is rosewood and brass structure. The combination aesthe...
Category

Vintage 1960s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Footstools

Materials

Brass

Sori Yanagi Oversized Captive Ball Puzzle Sculpture, 1960s
By Sori Yanagi
Located in L'Escala, ES
This 5-level, oversized wood puzzle sculpture was made by Sori Yanagi (the designer of the famous butterfly and elephant stools). Yanagi designed...
Category

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