George Nakashima for Knoll Chair
View Similar Items
George Nakashima for Knoll Chair
About the Item
- Creator:Knoll (Manufacturer),George Nakashima (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 28.5 in (72.39 cm)Width: 24.5 in (62.23 cm)Depth: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)Seat Height: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:c. 1950
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Lightly refurbished; with minor abrasions and marks consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU82851023142
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.
Knoll
As a company that produced many of the most famous and iconic furniture designs of the 20th century, Knoll was a chief influence in the rise of modern design in the United States. Led by Florence Knoll, the firm would draw stellar talents such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Eero Saarinen into its compass. Their work would help change the face of the American home and office.
The company was formed in 1938 by the German immigrant Hans Knoll. He first worked with his fellow ex-pat, the Danish designer Jens Risom, who created furniture with flowing lines made of wood. While Risom served in World War II, in 1943 Knoll met his future wife, Florence Schust. She had studied and worked with eminent emigré leaders of the Bauhaus, including Mies, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. She won Knoll over with Bauhaus notions of industrial arts, and an aesthetic that featured flat and tubular metal frames and angular forms. When Hans died in a car crash in 1955, Florence Knoll was appointed head of the company. It was as much through her holistic approach to design — a core division of the firm was dedicated to planning office systems — as Knoll's mid-century modern furnishings themselves that she brought about the sleek and efficient transformation of the American workplace.
Today, classic Knoll furnishings remain staples of modern design collections and decor. A history of modern design is written in pieces such as the elegant Barcelona chair — created by Mies and Lilly Reich — Saarinen’s pedestal Tulip chair, Breuer’s tubular steel Wassily lounge chair and the grid-patterned Diamond chair by Harry Bertoia.
As you can see from the collection of these designs and other vintage Knoll dining chairs, sofas and tables on 1stDibs, this manufacturer's offerings have become timeless emblems of the progressive spirit and sleek sophistication of the best of modernism.
- New Life for the Noble Tree: Masterworks by George Nakashima 'Sotheby's'By George Nakashima, Sotheby'sLocated in New York, NYCatalog of a sale held at Sotheby’s, New York, on December 15, 2006, showcasing the Arthur and Evelyn Krosnick collection of George Nakashima furniture and lighting, or actually the second collection, as the first—112 pieces-- was completely destroyed by fire in 1989. George Nakashima essentially stopped what he was doing and focused on rebuilding the collection replacing the lost items with what he deemed better examples, owing to his own technical and artistic maturation, though many were completed under the guidance of his daughter, Mira, after George passed away in 1990. Highlights include an important “Arlyn” table, lot 313, that fetched $822,000 (a record for the artist) on a pre-sale estimate of $300,000-$500,000; a superb “Minguren II” table that brought $180,000; a magnificent “Arlyn II” coffee table that sold for $204,000; and a set of eight Conoid chairs that sold for $96,000. The catalog of the Krosnick sale remains a touchstone for collectors interested in the work of George Nakashima. 103 pages with 85 lots, mostly with full color illustrations, printed wrappers. Price results...Category
Early 2000s American American Craftsman Books
MaterialsPaper
- Franco Albini Lounge Chair for Knoll, Model 49By Knoll, Franco AlbiniLocated in New York, NYLounge chair, model 49, designed by Franco Albini and produced by Knoll from 1949 until about 1967. This example circa 1950’s. Slender walnut frame with distinctive wrap-around arms, offset and angled rear legs, and steel fasteners. The harder-to-find lounge version of this iconic design. Pictured below in the 1950 Knoll Index...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Nature, Form & Spirit: The Life and Legacy of George NakashimaBy Mira Nakashima, George NakashimaLocated in New York, NYFirst edition of Mira Nakashima’s tribute to her father, George, whose standing as one of America’s foremost designer/craftsmen is reflected in his blue-chip status in the vintage de...Category
Early 2000s American American Craftsman Books
MaterialsPaper
- Pair of Edward Wormley "Alexandria" Chairs for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYPair of sinuous “Alexandria” chairs in mahogany designed by Edward Wormley and produced by Dunbar Furniture circa 1961. One of Wormley’s signature des...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSilk, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley Chair for Dunbar Model 2424BBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYSleekly sculptural chair with a radically slender, curved seat back designed by Edward Wormley and produced by Dunbar Furniture, c. 1940. An early modernist design by Wormley, in an organic design idiom, that transforms a traditional wingback chair...Category
Vintage 1940s American Organic Modern Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Mahogany
- Chairs by Harry Bertoia: Knoll Associates, Inc BrochureBy Herbert Matter, KnollLocated in New York, NYKnoll brochure featuring chair (and bench) designs by Harry Bertoia but also including work by Richard Schultz, Isamu Noguchi, and Florence Knoll. Publi...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- George Nakashima Straight Chair for KnollBy Knoll, George NakashimaLocated in Los Angeles, CADesigned by master craftsman George Nakashima for Knoll in 1946, the N19 chair was intended as a mass-produced counterpoint to the Nakashima Studio’s popular “Straight Chair...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
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 - Diamond Chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll InternationalBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Brussels, BEDiamond chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll International, 6 available Sold par piece 1200€.Category
Vintage 1970s European Armchairs
MaterialsChrome
- Diamond Chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll InternationalBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Brussels, BEDiamond chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll International, 6 available Sold par piece 1200€.Category
Vintage 1970s European Armchairs
MaterialsChrome
- Diamond Chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll InternationalBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Brussels, BEDiamond chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll International, 6 available Sold par piece 1250€.Category
Vintage 1970s European Armchairs
MaterialsChrome
- George Nakashima Dining Armchair for WiddicombBy Widdicomb Furniture Co., George NakashimaLocated in Los Angeles, CABlack walnut dining armchair by George Nakashima for Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company Widdicomb, c.1960s for their "Origins" collection. This rare dining chair, is one of the few...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut