The Kawai Musical Instrument Research Laboratory (known simply as Kawai) is a Japanese company specializing in manufacturing pianos and keyboards, among the most famous in his field.
History
The company was founded in Hamamatsu (Shizuoka Prefecture) in 1927 by Koichi Kawai, with the help of seven colleagues. Over time, the production of the company grew at a high level since at the beginning of the fifties, 1500 sales pianos were recorded per year. Koichi died suddenly in October of 1955, at age 70, and was replaced by thirty-three Shigeru Kawai, which proved to be the author of the modernization of the family business.
Shigeru, to boost sales of its products, founded academies to prepare for teaching music (Kawai Academy of Music) in order to also open various music schools (Kawai Music Schools). This strategy was successful. With the arrival of the sixties, Shigeru began distributing its products outside the national borders: in 1963 launched “Kawai America”, following “Kawai Europe”, “Kawai Canada”, “Kawai Australia” and “Kawai Asia “.
Since 1989, the company’s presidency was entrusted to Hirotaka Kawai, son of Shigeru.
