Long Bench by George Nakashima
View Similar Items
Long Bench by George Nakashima
About the Item
- Creator:George Nakashima (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 9.25 in (23.5 cm)Width: 143 in (363.22 cm)Depth: 15.5 in (39.37 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Sagaponack, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: 103381stDibs: LU89031115638
George Nakashima
A master woodworker and M.I.T.-trained architect, George Nakashima was the leading light of the American Studio furniture movement. Along with Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof and Wendell Castle, Nakashima was an artisan who disdained industrial methods and materials in favor of a personal, craft-based approach to the design. What sets Nakashima apart is the poetic style of his work, his reverence for wood and the belief that his furniture could evince — as he put it in the title of his 1981 memoir — The Soul of a Tree.
Born in Spokane, Washington, to Japanese immigrants, Nakashima traveled widely after college, working and studying in Paris, Japan and India, and at every stop he absorbed both modernist and traditional design influences. The turning point in Nakashima’s career development came in the United States in 1942, when he was placed in an internment camp for Asian-Americans in Idaho. There, Nakashima met a master woodcarver who tutored him in Japanese crafting techniques. A former employer won Nakashima’s release and brought him to bucolic New Hope, Pennsylvania, where Nakashima set up a studio and worked for the rest of his life.
Nakashima’s singular aesthetic is best captured in his custom-made tables and benches — pieces that show off the grain, burls and whorls in a plank of wood. He left the “free edge,” or natural contour, of the slab un-planed, and reinforced fissures in the wood with “butterfly” joints. Almost all Nakashima seating pieces have smooth, milled edges. Nakashima also contracted with large-scale manufacturers to produce carefully supervised editions of his designs. Knoll has offered his Straight chair — a modern take on the spindle-backed Windsor chair — since 1946; the now-defunct firm Widdicomb-Mueller issued the Shaker-inspired Origins collection in the 1950s.
Nelson Rockefeller in 1973 gave Nakashima his single largest commission: a 200-piece suite for his suburban New York estate. Today, Nakashima furniture is collected by both the staid and the fashionable: his work sits in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as in the homes of Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Diane von Furstenberg and the late Steve Jobs.
- Walnut Nakashima Headboard by George Nakashima for George Nakashima StudioBy George Nakashima Studio, George NakashimaLocated in Sagaponack, NYA king sized solid walnut headboard. Superb craftsmanship and beautifully executed design.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsWalnut
- 1940s Straight Chair by George NakashimaBy Knoll, George NakashimaLocated in Sagaponack, NYAn early production straight chair with spindles and a shaped seat on four splayed, tapered dowel legs.Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsHickory
$7,200 / item - 1960s Walnut Stool by George NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in Sagaponack, NYA walnut barstool designed by American Craftsman Master George Nakashima with hand-hewn spindles supporting a thin backrest, a shaped seat on four spl...Category
Vintage 1960s American American Craftsman Stools
MaterialsWalnut
- Low Table / Coffee Table by Hans J. WegnerBy Johannes Hansen, Hans J. WegnerLocated in Sagaponack, NYA rectangular solid teak top and oak base low table/bench/coffee table with a basin-edged top.Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Benches
MaterialsOak, Teak
- Reversible Top Low Table by Hans J. WegnerLocated in Sagaponack, NYA low table / bench with a flip-top black laminate and a teak top on an oak base.Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Benches
MaterialsOak, Teak
- 1930s Art Deco Mahogany Low Table by Gilbert Rohde for Herman MillerBy Gilbert Rohde, Herman MillerLocated in Sagaponack, NYA low table or bench with a rectangular mahogany top floating a bent chromed steel base with sled feet.Category
Vintage 1930s American Art Deco Benches
MaterialsSteel
- Live Edge Solid Slab Coffee Table or Bench in the Style of George NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in Topeka, KSIncredible midcentury live edge or free edge solid slab coffee table or bench in the style of George Nakashima. It is in wonderful vintage condition with normal wear, circa 1950s-198...Category
20th Century Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood
$1,836 Sale Price20% Off - John David Sackett Burled Mesquite Bench After George Nakashima Butterfly JointLocated in Dallas, TXMinguren style table / bench after George Nakashima crafted of solid Texas burled Mesquite by studio craftsman John David Sackett for an important private texas collection. Coor...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsWood
$3,800 Sale Price20% Off - George Nelson Long Slat Bench Black Finish Herman Miller Mid-Century Modern 1950By Herman Miller, George NelsonLocated in Miami, FLOriginal George Nelson early long slat bench in ebonized Birch Wood designed in the 1950s and manufactured by Herman Miller. Great for a Hallway Bench where Kids can change Shoes an...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsWood, Birch
- Mid-Century Modern Long Walnut Bench Coffee Table by LaneBy Lane FurnitureLocated in Rockaway, NJMid-Century Modern walnut long bench two tear coffee table.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Milo Baughman Rosewood Long Bench or TableBy Milo Baughman, Thayer CogginLocated in Brooklyn, NYLow bench/table in highly figured book-matched rosewood veneer on three ebonized wood sleigh legs. For Thayer-Coggin Furniture, circa 1960sCategory
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsRosewood
- Walnut Coffee Table by George NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in Long Island City, NYAn Original Walnut Coffee Table by George Nakashima. About George Nakashima: George Katsutoshi Nakashima was an American woodworker, architect, an...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut