JAPANESE CULTURE, EXPLAINED
バタフライスツール
Sori Yanagi’s Butterfly Stool developed through collaboration with technical specialists and Tendo Mokko. Two matching moulded-plywood shells face each other, each combining half a seat with a supporting leg. Metal fittings join them into a stool whose spreading outline gives it its name.
Rather than attaching a separate seat to four legs, the design continues each half-seat into a curved support. The two halves face one another and are connected across the centre. Tendo’s current description specifies two matching plywood forms joined with brass fittings. Their construction is assembled rather than carved from one solid block.
Moulded plywood layers thin wood veneers with adhesive and holds them under heat and pressure in a mould. The method joins repeatable production with visible wood grain. Shape, material and connections belong to the same design problem.
The Yanagi organisation traces the idea through cutting, folding and bending paper. In 1954 Yanagi met plywood researcher Saburō Inui; research facilities and Tendo contributed to development. The stool was publicly presented in 1956. Some museums date the design to 1954, a different event from public presentation.
The design organisation identifies early flat-bottomed, tatami-oriented supports and a four-point version for wooden floors. Today’s S-0521RW-ST has its own rosewood-faced specification and dimensions of 425 by 310 by 387 millimetres. A model’s materials and measurements describe that version rather than every example made throughout the design’s history.
The Met’s object 1988.195 is catalogued as designed in 1954, manufactured in 1987 and donated by Tendo in 1988. MoMA’s 153.1958.1 is dated 1956 and described as moulded plywood and metal. Design, manufacture and acquisition dates identify different events in an individual object’s history.
| Date | Object / event |
|---|---|
| 1954 | Design date in the Met record |
| 1956 | Public presentation; MoMA work date |
| 1987 | Manufacture of the Met example |
| 1988 | Donation of the Met example |
No. Two moulded-plywood shells and metal fittings form the main structure.
Yes. A particular example can be manufactured later than the design developed.
No. Early examples included flat-bottomed and four-point support arrangements.