Isamu Saito

This week, we’re honouring the visionary designers who pioneered the use of moulded plywood that would come to revolutionise furniture and product design. Although plywood has been around for millennia, it was designers such as Alvar Aalto and the Eames duo who developed new technologies, realising the humble materials sculptural potential. With its strength, lightness and versatility, moulded plywood became the material of choice for designers, helping shape the modern world.

Experimenting with the idea of making wooden fuel tanks, he learned about molded plywood, and this became a formative experience that would later transform his woodworking business.

Initially the Isamu Saito made small cylinders which he would stack on his bicycle trailer and sell to local townspeople. By the 1960s Saito had perfected a range of simple and elegant waste baskets and plywood products. These became staple objects in homes, hotels and restaurants throughout Japan and Europe.