Yamakawa Rattan is a Japanese rattan furniture company, founded in 1952 in Tokyo by Hichiro Yamakawa — originally in a storage room in the backyard of the family home, with the aim of providing craft employment for his two hearing-impaired sons. Rattan weaving proved suitable; the company grew and became Japan's leading rattan furniture manufacturer. The third son, Yuzuru Yamakawa (1933–2012), studied design in the evenings while working in the family business during the day, and shaped the brand for over four decades as its leading designer: he merged Japanese aesthetic lines with the artisanal traditions of Indonesia into a distinctive style.

A key episode in design history: Isamu Kenmochi (1912–1971), one of the most significant Japanese modernist designers of the post-war era, created several lounge chairs for Yamakawa Rattan from the 1950s onwards. His 1958 lounge chair design for the company was acquired in 1964 for the permanent design collection of MoMA New York — one of the rare international recognitions of Japanese product design at this level. Further awards: G-Mark Prize (Good Design Selection System, Japan), Gold Medal at the Triennale Milano. In the early 1990s, production was relocated to Indonesia (Cirebon, West Java) due to the export ban on raw rattan from the main producing countries. More recent designer partnerships: Hiroomi Tahara (Salone del Mobile 2014: Fruit Bowl Collection — Red Dot Design Award 2012, Green Good Design Award 2013). International presence: Maison & Objet Paris, Salone del Mobile Milan.

For interior architects and interior designers seeking a Japanese rattan furniture brand with over 70 years of manufacturing history, design history represented in MoMA, Indonesian craft production and a design language that places elegance, ergonomics and material integrity above passing trends, Yamakawa Rattan is the historically deepest and design-historically most significant address in the international rattan furniture segment.