Sori Yanagi takes the user's perspective and adapts a design method where models are hand-created while coming up with ideas. It has designed many products that will enrich your life and can be used for a long time.
Sori Yanagi's Stainless Steel Cutlery Series
Sori Yanagi's creation begins with making a model before drawing sketches or diagrams. The models are tested for usability and take 2 to 3 years for continued improvements and prototype creations to explore the completed form. The diagram is drawn for the first time after finally finding the perfect design and form. The Sori Yanagi cutlery series are created through such methods and utilize forms that best suit their purposes.
The pasta fork with deep cuts allows noodles to easily mesh, while the soup spoon with its unique form lets you carry the soup to your mouth with effortless movements. The broad knife allows ease of applying sauce to food by effortlessly cutting and applying. The curves of the spoon and fork are perfectly designed for your mouth. The matt finish that obscures scratches is a well-thought feature.
Stainless Steel Products that Use about 50% Recycled Materials
"Sori Yanagi Design Series" is sold by Sato Shoji Corporation, who asked Sori Yanagi to design the products that started as the Stainless Steel Cutlery and were released in 1974. It won the Good Design Award in the same year. Afterward, it continued designing and manufacturing various kitchenware and tableware that are mainly based on stainless steel products, such as the Stainless Steel Kettle and Stainless Steel Milk Pan. Stainless Steel features superb anti-corrosive capabilities and can be used for a long time. Its quality as a material does not degrade much, allowing reusability, even when being discarded. Discarded materials (scrap from the stamping process and defective products) incurred during the manufacturing process at the factory are also collected and melted in the electric furnace to be reused as materials.
Stainless Steel Kettle Matte
The manufacture of the Stainless Steel Kettle is done by artisans in Niigata prefecture's Tsubame City, which is renowned for its high levels of techniques and quality that are world-renown. It is manufactured through over 50 stages that include stamping, polishing, and welding. Even the spout itself consists of over 10 stages, which requires high levels of techniques. As a feature, the spout is widened so the contents don't boil too quickly. It is also refined to prevent hot water from dripping out. The handle is designed to fit perfectly in your hand. Furthermore, the principle of leverage is utilized so that you don't need to add strength but use your pinky to grip the concave surface at the rear of the handle instead for ease of pouring. The kettle was developed through repeated meticulous tests that allow smooth handwork for "pouring," such as initially creating a 3D model. There is a story regarding how the mold was remade from scratch after Sori Yanagi judged that the knob's balance was unacceptable, even after the mold was completed and a prototype was created. It won the Good Design Long Life Design Award in 2013.
True beauty is "Born," Not Created.
Sori Yanagi (1915 - 2011) has left the following words about designs.
True beauty is "born", not created.
Design cannot be achieved alone.
True design lies in a realm counter to trends.
Traditional style exists for the cause of creation. Design without tradition and creation is inconceivable.
