Sori Yanagi was one of the most famous product designers in Japan. He played a role in Japanese modern design developed after World War 2 to the high-growth period in the Japanese economy. He is both a representative of the wholly Japanese modern designer and a full-blown modernist who merged simplicity and practicality with elements of traditional Japanese crafts. He was born in 1915 in Tokyo, Japan, as the son of Soetsu Yanagi, who founded the "mingei" movement which celebrated Japanese folk crafts and the beauty of everyday objects. Soetsu helped establish the Nihon Mingeikon, the Folk Crafts Museum of Japan. Sori entered Tokyo Art School in 1934, where he studied both art and architecture. He was influenced by Le Corbusier as well as by Charlotte Perriand when she worked in Japan in the early 1940s. So, his interests moved from painting to buildings to design and objects. After World War II, he designed many products: furniture, three-wheeled vehicles, Olympic cauldrons, pedestrian overpasses, etc. One of the most famous pieces of furniture is his Butterfly Stool. Announced in 1956, its' 2-piece form has been compared to a butterfly's open wings. 

June 29th, 1915 in Tokyo as Yanagi Munemichi  /  Died:   Dec 25th, 2011 - aged 96