BiographyKomai was born in Los Angeles in 1918. During World War II, his graphic arts studies at the Art Center School in Los Angeles were interrupted by his internment in a camp for Japanese-Americans. After the war, he moved to New York and opened his own design office. He caught the attention of Erwine Laverne, who commissioned Komai to design drapery textiles for Laverne Originals. Komai stated that his textile designs were inspired by the cubist paintings of Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso and other cubist painters, and by primitive art and tribal masks from Africa and New Guinea.