Early George Nakashima Mira High Stool American Black Walnut USA circa 1960

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Early George Nakashima Mira High Stool American Black Walnut USA circa 1960

About the Item

George Nakashima Mira high stool American black walnut, circa 1960 Original early production model George Nakashima ’Mira High Stool’ American Black Walnut & Hickory dated 1960, this Stool was handcrafted by George Nakashima in his Woodworker complex, New Hope Studios in Pennsylvania, this stunning tripod stool with its beautifully hand-hewn backrest, spindles and ergonomically triangular shaped seat, raised on three splayed, tapered dowel legs, united by stretchers and one footrest to the front leg, comes with original Order Card from New Hope, PA / USA, circa 1960 In the workshop of George Nakashima, the soul of the tree was celebrated. "It is an art- and soul-satisfying adventure to walk the forests of the world, to commune with trees,” Nakashima said, “to bring this living material to the work bench, ultimately to give it a second life." The George Nakashima Woodworker Complex, located in New Hope, Pennsylvania, was the home of the internationally renowned furniture designer and architect George Nakashima. The 12 acre complex has 21 buildings, all designed by Nakashima. The assortment of buildings, scattered across a wooded forest and open lawns, served as Nakashima's home and workspace until his death in 1990. Nakashima is recognised as one of America's most eminent furniture designer-craftsman and his style of "organic naturalism" can be seen in the buildings, landscape, and furniture located in the George Nakashima Woodworker Complex. Working out of his compound in rural New Hope, Pennsylvania, George Nakashima produced some of the most original and influential furniture designs of the post-war era. Nakashima aimed to give trees a second life, choosing solid wood over veneers and designing his furniture to highlight the inherent beauty of the wood, such as the form and grain. After returning to the U.S. in 1940, Nakashima's family was interned in an American concentration camp, a horrible ordeal that nevertheless introduced him to traditional Japanese joinery by way of a Nisei woodworker he met in the camp. He incorporated these techniques and also drew on American vernacular forms, such as the Windsor chair. Summary: George Nakashima USA Original Mira High Stool American Black Walnut Hickory Hand Crafted Early Production by Nakashima 1960 Investment Free UK delivery Practical & Beautiful Condition report: This piece is offered in excellent original condition with no restorations, wonderful walnut patina. Dimensions: Height 37” inches / 94cm Width 18” inches / 46cm Depth 21” inches / 53cm Seat height 27.5” inches / 70cm.

Creator:
George Nakashima (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 37 in (93.98 cm)Width: 18 in (45.72 cm)Depth: 21 in (53.34 cm)Seat Height: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Hickory,Walnut
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1960-1969
Date of Manufacture:
1960
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Excellent original condition.
Seller Location:
Longdon, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1832319692542

Shop All George Nakashima

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.