CIBI Home Sori Yanagi Exhibition

Sori Yanagi Exhibition 11 sept - 11 jan 2026

CIBI Hero Sori Yanagi is an exhibition of design works selected from the CIBI Design store collection.
The exhibition celebrates that smile that accompanies us with Sori Yanagi design in hand. Explore his unique designs, objects, tools and philosophy that enrich everyone’s life through his designs. His creations for daily life, “A good design should not stand out. The design should serve, not lead”, will inspire you to enjoy Sori Yanagi-designed pieces in your home and enrich your daily life!

CIBI and Sori Yanagi

Sori Yanagi has had a very special place in CIB since the day we first opened in 2008 in Melbourne.

CIBI cooks with Yanagi’s kitchen tools and serves our food on his cast iron pan. Our customers sit on the elephant stool and enjoy eating breakfast and lunch with his cutteries at our cafe. Many of our customers cherish Yanagi’s products at home.

Yanagi’s products are always part of CIBI and his creative spirit and philosophy has given us courage to pursue what we do and shown us how small things matter and how to enjoy and share simple things in everyday life with people around us.

Today, 17 years later we continue to use the same tools and serve our customers. They are simple, timeless and durable and our appreciation for its quality and honesty never fades over time.

We built a special relationship and affection for those products. Yanagi’s objects are a constant reminder of how we enjoy the simple little things in our everyday life.

We appreciate Yanagi`s attitude to life and the thoughts he puts into all his products, which continue to inspire us everyday.

Who is Sori Yanagi

Sori Yanagi (1915 - 2011) was born in 1915 in Tokyo.

He first studied oil painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts from 1936 to 1940 but finally turned to architecture by joining the office of Junzo Sakakura (1901-1969). However, While working for Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) as her assistant during her trip in Japan he really began to move towards design. Sori Yanagi learned “the process of design” and was hugely influenced by her work and at the forefront to understand European Modernism: he gave up architecture in 1947 to study industrial design and in 1952 he opened his own agency in Tokyo, the Yanagi Industrial Design Institute.

The beauty of Everyday things

"True beauty is born, not created"

Our lives are filled with objects. Everyday things used in everyday settings, they are our constant companions. They are made with care and built to last, treated with respect and even affection. They are natural and simple, sturdy and safe - an aesthetic fulfilment of our practical needs and deepens our relationship with the objects that surround us. They should be things of beauty. The water kettle is just one of Sori Yanagi’s most famous designs.

Sori Yanagi Design Kettle Mirror - CIBI Sori Yanagi

Sori Yanagi Nambu Tekki Cast Iron Mini Pan L 18cm - CIBI Sori Yanagi

Sori Yanagi Design Kettle Matte - CIBI Sori Yanagi

Sori Yanagi Knife Set (3pcs) - CIBI Sori Yanagi

Sori Yanagi Nambu Tekki Cast Iron Sauce Pan 22cm Deep (3.5L) - CIBI Sori Yanagi

Passing on and preserving

Sori Yanagi is one of the biggest heroes of the CIBI Design Store. He is the son of Soetsu Yanagi, founder of the Mingei movement which celebrates the beauty of everyday objects. (book title…..etc link to our online shop) He took his father's place as the head of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum founded in 1936. He is the keeper of the Japanese crafts collective memory and practices on one hand and a true master in industrial design on the other hand. Folk Art reflects the culture of a given place Design reflects the culture of humanity.

The Story of the Butterfly Stool

The Sori Yanagi butterfly stool was designed in 1956. It’s meticulously made by Tendo Mokko and is still the best seller. Reminiscent of a ribbon, butterfly or flower, its form is subject to the viewer's perspective. It was designed by hand with paper without any drawing. Yanagi was playing with paper with no plan in mind and came up with the shape by accident. He always designs using his hands. His design process is very long and always through making models by hand.

Seven butterfly chairs are completed in a day by the hands of 10 craftsmen. Each process involves 1-2 people. Easy and light to transport, put it in an entrance hallway, next to your sofa, bed or on your tatami. It’s an elegant piece to accompany your everyday life. It can blend in any interior. It harmonises with both Japanese and Western spaces and the colour of the wood deepens and ages beautifully with time through generations.

Butterfly stool is a part of the permanent collection of museums worldwide - from MoMA in New York to the Louvre in Paris.

The Story of the Elephant Stool

Sori Yanagi Elephant Stool was designed in 1954, one of CIBI's favourite design pieces and the most famous example of Japanese post-war design. The curved three-legged design evokes an elephant's foot, appearing grounded and solid. We love them at home as a stool, a leg rest, a little coffee table, a bedside friend, or for kids to play. This elegant stool is stackable, suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

Originally produced in fibreglass, the current model was updated by Vitra and is made from recyclable polypropylene. It works in any style of interior design.

Sori Yanagi Elephant Stool was designed in 1954, one of CIBI's favourite design pieces and the most famous example of Japanese post-war design. The curved three-legged design evokes an elephant's foot, appearing grounded and solid. We love them at home as a stool, a leg rest, a little coffee table, a bedside friend, or for kids to play. This elegant stool is stackable, suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

Originally produced in fibreglass, the current model was updated by Vitra and is made from recyclable polypropylene. It works in any style of interior design.

Essence of design

He single-mindedly questioned the very essence of design, pursuing lifestyle designs that connect with people's hearts. He praised "anonymous design” "design without the intervention of a designer." Items with a practical beauty do not bear the name of the maker, such as jeans and

baseballs. The other is everyday items produced by the handwork of nameless Japanese people, part of the Mingei movement advocated by his father, Soetsu Yanagi. Recognizing that these are the origins of life and the source of beauty, Yanagi himself idealized anonymous designs that could be widely used without names being prominent, striving to create items that were born from the depths of the human body.

Collection