KAWAI - The world's most advanced pianos.
Kawai Piano is a producer of both grand and upright pianos, with headquarters in Japan and branches also in Germany and Australia. The company has a foundation of excellence. A long list could be compiled of prominent and talented artists that prefer Kawai Pianos.
The company was founded by Koichi Kawai, an inventor. The son of a wagon maker, Kawai had been discovered by a man trying to build an upright piano from imported parts. The man saw Koichi riding past on a unique pedal-cart the likes of which he had never seen. The man learned Koichi built the cart himself, and was so impressed that he asked the boy to be his apprentice and help him build the piano he was struggling so hard to complete. The very next day, Koichi Kawai, would begin work on his very first piano. It was his research and development that led to the introduction of pianos to Japan.
In 1927, the the Kawai Musical Instrument Research Laboratory in Hamamatsu, Japan was formed by Koichi Kawai and several of his colleagues. It was their dream to build the worlds finest piano.
By the 1950's, the Kawai Piano company had grown to over 500 employees and was distributing 1500 pianos per year. The Emporer of Japan awarded Koich Kawai with the "Blue Ribbon Medal" which was the first award of its kind to be presented to a person in the musical instrument industry. Sadly, Koichi died suddenly in 1955, but was succeeded by young and very capable 33 year old Shigeru Kawai, who had a bright outlook for the future of Kawai pianos. One of his goals was to actually increase the market demand for pianos, and in turn created the Kawai Academy of Music to train qualified music teachers for his new network of Kawai Music schools, and he also created the Kawai Piano Technical Center to train technicians on the proper care for pianos. All of these piano programs were a great success and had 300,000 people participating by the 1960's. Another part of his plan was to promote piano study and music education through a door to door sales program, which also included nearly 2000 salesman by the 1960's.
Kawai America was introduced in 1963, as Shigeru aimed to make Kawai "The sound heard round the world". Kawai America was followed by Kawai Europe, Kawai Canada, Kawai Australia and Kawai Asia.
In 1989, control of the company was passed down to Shigeru's son, Hirotaka Kawai, who vowed to continue the "commitment to excellence" established by his family.
Since 1927, continuing today, the Kawai company has grown into an international corporation that employs over 4000 people on 4 conitinents, with almost $1 billion per year in worldwide sales.
Kawai pianos are extremely elegant pieces of art and are found on concert stages throughout the world, used by award winning musicians. Kawai Piano has earned it's status among the worlds greatest piano makers.