QS-10 TORII STOOL
Riki Watanabe
YEAR: 1957
DIMENSIONS: W x D x H: 48 x 35 x 46cm (SH 43cm)
FINISH: Natural or dark brown rattan
WARRANTY: 1 Year
LEAD TIME: Approx. 16-18 weeks
Handmade to order in Japan and part of the Y-M-K Nagaoka,
Riki Watanabe collection.
Riki Watanabe’s work changed the public’s perception of rattan furniture; his furniture is said to have triggered the revival in popularity of rattan furniture in Japan. The Torii stool was featured in a case study project on housing and furniture in “Modern Living” magazine, and later won Japan’s first Gold Prize at the 1957 Triennale di Milano. It’s a masterpiece, immensely popular, more than half a century after its launch.
The stool is a perfect example of Watanabe’s sense of how to recognise the flexible and gently bending properties of rattan to create a perfectly formed piece of art. Not initially named ‘tori’ by Watanabe, it came to be known as the Torii stool due to its resemblance to a Japanese Shinto shrine gate, a tori.
RIKI WATANABE
(1911 - 2013)
Considered one of the pioneers of post-war Japanese design, he was the first director of the Japan Industrial Design Assoc. (JIDA) and founded the Japan Design Committee.
His Torii Stool (QS-10) and Circular Center Table (QS-40) won the Gold Medal at the Triennale di Milano in 1957.
1949 He established Riki Watanabe Design Office, which continues his legacy today.
