Sori Yanagi
Sōri Yanagi (柳宗理 1915–2011) was a Japanese product designer, who played an integral role in the history of Japanese modern design. He is both a representative of the wholly Japanese modern designer, and of a full-blown modernist who merged simplicity and practicality with elements of traditional Japanese crafts. Most of Yanagi's designs are very simple and beautiful. His products illustrate his thinking: true beauty is not made, it is born naturally. When he created a new product, he famously made and remade the prototypess over and over by hand, seeking new forms that took shape from both new and old ideas.
