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 of chairs, coffee tables and other pieces. 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. (Master craftsperson Mira Nakashima keeps her father’s legacy alive at the George Nakashima Studio in New Hope today. She has been the artistic director of George Nakashima Woodworkers since her father's death, in 1990.)
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, the result of a merger between Widdicomb and Mueller Furniture, 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.
Find George Nakashima Studio furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
George Nakashima Round Turned-Leg Dining Table in American Black Walnut 152cm
By George Nakashima, George Nakashima Studio
Located in Waalwijk, NL
George Nakashima for George Nakashima Studio, round turned-leg dining table, American black walnut, United States 1965 Crafted in 1965, this round dining table by George Nakashima s...
Walnut
George Nakashima 'Cluster Base' Table with Live-Edge Top
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in Waalwijk, NL
George Nakashima for George Nakashima Studio, 'Cluster Base' table, American black walnut, United States, 1987 This Cluster Base table by George Nakashima exemplifies the designer’s...
Walnut
George Nakashima, Trestle Dining Table
By George Nakashima Studio
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Nakashima Studio USA, c. 1950 American black walnut, rosewood 29 h x 72 w x 40.25 d in (74 x 183 x 102 cm) Table features three rosewood butterflies. Provenance: LAMA Auctions via ...
Walnut
Hana Walnut Trestle Dining Table
By Greg Mitchell
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Hana Trestle Dining table is our take on the classic trestle form, beloved by both the shakers and their distant woodworking cousins, the Jap...
Walnut
$58,500
H 14.25 in W 66.75 in D 28 in
George Nakashima, Coffee Table, American Black Walnut, New Hope, USA, 1982
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in High Point, NC
An American black walnut coffee table designed by George Nakashima and produced by Nakashima Studio, New Hope, Pennsylvania, United States, 1...
Walnut
$65,000
H 15.25 in W 69.5 in D 31 in
George Nakashima, Freeform Coffee Table, English Walnut, Studio USA 1971
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in High Point, NC
A unique and sizable coffee / cocktail table in the "sled-shape" style. Produced by Nakashima Studio, New Hope, Pennsylvania, United States. Dated 1971 Executed in English Walnut...
Walnut
George Nakashima Walnut Dining Table for Widdicomb
By Widdicomb Furniture Co., George Nakashima
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Walnut dining table by George Nakashima for Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company Widdicomb, c.1960s for their "Origins" collection. The table features a tapered rectangular top with ...
Walnut
George Nakashima English Walnut Conoid Coffee Table
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Coffee table from American mid-century craftsman George Nakashima. The table crafted of english walnut, c.1971 features a live edge slab table top with single spindle support and liv...
Walnut
Shaker Trestle Dining Table c. 1830
By Shakers
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Shaker trestle dining table c. 1830. Pine and cherry. Harvard, MA community. Early repair to base dating to early 20th century. Provenance: Adelaide...
Pine, Cherry
French Oak Trestle Dining Table
Located in Atlanta, GA
Trestle dining table with double baluster legs in light oak. A low central wooden stretcher beam connects the two base ends, secured with exposed mortise-and-tenon/keyed joinery deta...
Oak
George Nakashima Studio Minguren II Coffee Table
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Coffee table from American mid-century craftsman George Nakashima. The table crafted of black walnut, c.1988 features a live edge slab table top with single spindle support and live ...
Walnut
$148,000
H 28.94 in W 84.06 in D 41.15 in
George Nakashima 'Frenchman's Cove II' Dining Table in Walnut
Located in Waalwijk, NL
George Nakashima for George Nakashima Studio, ‘Frenchman’s Cove II’ dining table, American black walnut, United States of America, 1967 This striking and unique Frenchman’s Cove II ...
Walnut
George Nakashima Cluster base Round Dining Table
By George Nakashima
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Rarely seen example re-oiled top original clients name is available.
Walnut
American Farmhouse Drop-Leaf Dining Table w/ Turned Legs
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Materials: Walnut-Stained Maple Style: American Farmhouse Dimensions: 28.75”H x 19.50” -46"W x 41.50”D This charming American farmhouse drop-leaf dining table from the 1940s feature...
Maple
$4,995
H 14.75 in W 21.75 in D 63 in
Vintage Live Edge Redwood Coffee Table with Burl Root Base, Nakashima Inspired
By George Nakashima
Located in Chattanooga, TN
Pictures simply don't convey the true magnificence of this piece. A sight to behold in person. This dazzling George Nakashima style redwood slab top is supported by a massive, marbl...
Burl
Tuscan Renaissance Banquet Dining Trestle Table
Located in Las Vegas, NV
Exceptional 12 foot long Tuscan style banquet trestle table. Classic design and beautifully crafted of solid hardwood planks (not veneer). Dated and signed custom piece made by an ...
Walnut
Trestle Leg Dining Table in Oiled Walnut
By Brian Holcombe
Located in Princeton, NJ
This handmade heavy slab trestle leg dining table features elements unique to traditional Japanese timber framing carpentry work making this a subtle and very sturdy dining table. Th...
Ash, Walnut
$7,500 / item
H 30 in W 84 in D 36 in
Bookmatched Walnut Dining Table with Black Steel Legs "Lafayette Dining Table"
By Anton Maka
Located in Shelby Twp, MI
The Lafayette dining table is made of a book-matched claro walnut top with a blackened steel base with walnut inserts. This piece has been finished in an extremely durable matte conv...
Steel
Sold
H 29.14 in W 83.86 in D 44.89 in
George Nakashima, American Black Walnut Free-Edge Trestle Dining Table, 1960
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in Wargrave, Berkshire
George Nakashima (1905-1990) American black walnut trestle dining table, with book-matched top featuring four rosewood butterflies and free edges. made at the Nakashima Studio, Phila...
Rosewood, Walnut
Sold
H 28.75 in W 60.04 in D 60.04 in
George Nakashima, Maple Frenchman's Cove Dining Table, signed and dated 1980
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in Wargrave, Berkshire
A rare Frenchman's Cove dining table, in maple wood with free-edge top, made by George Nakashima in 1980 Height 73.5cm, the top basically 152.5cm square but slightly wider in places...
Maple
George Nakashima Studio Black Walnut Dining Table
By George Nakashima Studio, George Nakashima
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Dining table from American midcentury craftsman George Nakashima. The black walnut table features four splayed tapered dowel legs which support a large round table top. The table top showcases...
Walnut