Yanagi's Butterfly Stool: the West folded the Japanese way
Two sheets of plywood, one brass rod, 1954. How Sori Yanagi reconciled Japanese craft with industrial production.
1 MIN · 1 OBJECT IDENTIFIEDA stool that resembles a butterfly, a torii, an ideogram. Sori Yanagi's Butterfly Stool (1954) is one of the objects that proved industry could produce poetry.
Two sheets, one rod
Two moulded plywood shells, identical, joined by a single brass rod. A Japanese economy of means married to the Western moulding technique (that of the Eameses).
A bridge between two worlds
Yanagi, son of the theorist of the Mingei movement (folk craft), sought the beauty born of use. The Butterfly is his answer: neither folklore nor cold machine — both at once.
Recognising it
Produced by Vitra and Tendo Mokko: markings beneath the seat, quality of the veneer (rosewood, maple), a clean brass junction. Copies betray a coarse plywood.
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Gallery
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