Sori Yanagi, a distinguished Japanese designer, attended art school in Tokyo until 1940. From 1940 until 1942 ist Sori Yanagi worked in the practice of the designer Charlotte Perriand, who at that time was in Tokyo as an arts and crafts consultant to the Japanese Board of Trade. In 1952 Sori Yanagi found the Yanagi Industrial Design Institute. Sori Yanagi's best known design is the 1954 "Butterfly" stool, made of two slightly curvilinear plywood elements. The "Butterfly" owes its name to its graceful form. Sori Yanagi's design represents a perfect synthesis of Japanese sensitivity and Western design. Another 1954 Sori Yanagi design is the "Elephant Stool", a simple but handsome stool made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin. Sori Yanagi was one of the most important and versatile postwar Japanese designers. In addition to furniture, Sori Yanagi also designed lighting, glass objects, cutlery, and children's toys. Sori Yanagi designed underground rail stations in Japan as well as cars and motorbikes. In 1977 Sori Yanagi became director of the Japanese Folk Art Museum in Tokyo.