George Nakashima "Mira" Barstools in American Black Walnut
View Similar Items
George Nakashima "Mira" Barstools in American Black Walnut
About the Item
- Creator:George Nakashima (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 22.5 in (57.15 cm)Depth: 17 in (43.18 cm)Seat Height: 25.75 in (65.41 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950's
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: U10121479555677D
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.
- Pair of Mira Nakashima Mira Bar Stools in Walnut, USABy George Nakashima, Mira NakashimaLocated in Berlin, DEPair of Mira Nakashima "Mira bar stools" in walnut, USA. The chairs are in black walnut. Please consider the production lead time of around 18 months.Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsWalnut, Wood
- Pair of Mira Chairs by Mira Nakashima based on a design by George NakashimaBy George Nakashima, Mira NakashimaLocated in Berlin, DEPair of Mira Chairs by Mira Nakashima based on a design by George Nakashima. The chairs are in black walnut and can be signed. Production lead time is ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsWood, Walnut
- Four Mira Nakashima 4-Legged High Chairs based on a design by George NakashimaBy George Nakashima Studio, George NakashimaLocated in Berlin, DESet of four Mira Nakashima 4-Legged High Chairs based on a design by George Nakashima, USA. The chairs can be signed. Please consider that this is an on-order product, the production...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsWalnut
- Mira Nakashima 4 legged high chair based on a design by George Nakashima, USABy George Nakashima Studio, George NakashimaLocated in Berlin, DEMira Nakashima 4 legged high chair based on a design by George Nakashima, new. One of the chairs is in stock, for more chairs: Please consider the production lead time of about 18 mo...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsWalnut
- 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
- Barstool with Black Leather Seat and Walnut Frame, BensenBy BensenLocated in Tulsa, OKTorii barstool with walnut frame and midnight blue B leather seat. This barstool is a simple yet sophisticated design with an arched back rest. The minimal lines and simple construct...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsLeather, Wood