Simplicity Form of Design︳Elephant Stool
“Things that are easy to use survive, regardless of what is fashionable and people want to use them forever." - Sori Yanagi
1. WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND ELEPHANT STOOL?
The elephant stool by Sori Yanagi was designed in 1954, one of the most celebrated post-war Japanese designs. This stunning stool blends with Japanese tradition and western design principles, using the newly developed Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic (FFP) for creating this lightweight and stackable chair with its clear formal idiom and superb functionality. It’s also the first plastic chair molded by one piece. Even though the has no obvious shape of the animal-like the Eames Elephant but the lines of an elephant can still be recognized from the curve of the chair legs. Sori Yanagi used an obscure way with simplified lines to outline the elephant stool. 
2. TELL US ABOUT THE DESIGN OF ELEPHANT STOOL
The Elephant Stool is molded in one piece by Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic and dyed-through polypropylene. In 2004, Vitra re-launched this classic work with modern PP plastic, added anti-ultraviolet UV ingredients to keep it light and durable, waterproof, and sun-resistant, endowed with more excellent functions. Thanks to its robust material suitable for both indoor as well as for outdoor use impresses to this day with its functionality and its simple design.
3. HOW ELEPHANT STOOL LIVES IN MODERN LIFE?
Although the chair was launched in the 1960s, the production was discontinued in the 1970s as what Sori Yanagi disclosed his thoughts regards to the environmental conscious on a plastic chair. Until 2004, Vitra relaunched the chair with more environmentally friendly polypropylene (PP) material which is fully recyclable but it can also be used as regrinds without compromising on the performance of the resin. Elephant stool is widely used today thanks to its functionalism with its sculptural aesthetic that perfectly suits for modern life.
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ABOUT THE DESIGNER – SORI YANAGI
Sori Yanagi, born in 1915 in Tokyo, attended art school in the city and worked from 1940 to 1942 in the office of the designer Charlotte Perriand. In 1952, he founded the Yanagi Industrial Design Institute, which created a prolific number of articles of daily use and furnishings. Sori Yanagi’s organic forms combine western industrial designs with Japan’s native artisanal traditions. This successful synthesis made Sori Yanagi one of the most significant Japanese designers of the post-war era. In addition to furniture, he also designed lighting, glass objects, cutlery, children’s toys, metro stations, cars, and motorcycles.
