Sori Yanagi was deeply engaged in design education and instruction for students alongside his busy activities in design. The Yanagi Design Institute (Foundation) has always served as a design education platform, where numerous designers worked and studied under Sori Yanagi before being sent out into the world.
Today, at Yanagi Design, we continue to collaborate with university and design institutions to provide educational activities for students aspiring to become designers.
Yanagi Design Office also conducts archival activities and organizes exhibitions in order to pass on Yanagi’s work and philosophy to future generations.
Educational activities
Practical training at YANAGI DESIGN
Every year, YANAGI DESIGN conducts a two-week internship program for students aspiring to become designers.
This workshop aims to teach participants a part of the design process cherished by Sori Yanagi. The subject is cutlery design, and interns create actual models, and learn to refine the design while testing their usability.
Other educational activities
- Every year at Kanazawa College of Art, Mr. Shinichi Yanagi, current representative of the Yanagi Design Office, conducts a two-day lecture titled “Design and Engineering.”
- We are working with Kanazawa College of Art to catalogue and organize Sori Yanagi’s design materials with the aim of constructing an archive and conducting academic research on the designer “Sori Yanagi.”
Awareness Campaigns and Promotional Activities in Design
- We actively organize and hold exhibitions with the aim of promoting the design activities of Sori Yanagi and to showcase our research group’s past work and creations that question the very essence of design.
- For exhibitions, magazine features, book publications, and other initiatives promoting design, we provide loan assistance for the works of Sori Yanagi and related materials when the project aligns with our organization’s philosophy.
- We also undertake planning cooperation or participate in projects at the request of organizations such as art museums.
We also hold lectures and other events to introduce our design methodologies and activities.
Collaboration with the Yanagi Sori Design Memorial, Kanazawa College of Art
Sori Yanagi taught at Kanazawa College of Art for approximately 50 years.
Through this connection, in March 2012, Yanagi Design Office deposited approximately 7,000 design-related materials, including the works created by Sori Yanagi, to Kanazawa College of Art.
YANAGI DESIGN designed the permanent exhibition space.
We created an exhibition space where visitors can physically touch and experience products to understand the philosophy and approach behind Sori Yanagi’s designs.
Additionally, we provide materials and offer design supervision for the special exhibitions held at the Yanagi Sori Design Memorial.
