George Nakashima Mira Chair, 1964
View Similar Items
George Nakashima Mira Chair, 1964
About the Item
- Creator:George Nakashima (Artist)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 26.38 in (67.01 cm)Width: 19.68 in (49.99 cm)Depth: 17.72 in (45.01 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1964
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU882610281743
Mira Chair
A cursory look at the Mira chair by George Nakashima (1905–90) reveals a simple wood form that might be perfectly at home in a 17th-century-era Shaker community in the United States, mid-century Scandinavia or even ancient Japan. That’s not much of a surprise — the American designer traveled widely and drew on varying traditions in his work.
Nakashima was born to Japanese immigrants in Washington state, studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then worked in Paris, Japan and India before returning to the United States. During World War II in 1942, his family was sent to an internment camp in Idaho, where Nakashima trained under a Japanese master wood-carver. Upon his release, the designer moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he established his own practice with a focus on woodworking.
For Nakashima, it was crucial that each piece of furniture be utilized in everyday life — he designed this chair around 1950 for its namesake, his young daughter, Mira. Inspired by Shaker-style craftsmanship, the all-wood piece has a spindle back, a heart-shaped seat and just three tapered legs. Nakashima created three versions of the chair to accommodate Mira's growth over the years, with the two larger ones featuring modest-sized footrests. Today Mira runs her father’s studio, which continues to produce the Mira chair exactly the way he did.
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.
- Charles Dudouyt Fireside Low Chair or Stool in Stained Oak with Rush SeatBy Charles DudouytLocated in Brooklyn, NYA low fireside chair (chauffeuse) or stool in stained oak attributed to Charles Duduouyt, with turned, truncated cone-shaped legs floating over rece...Category
Vintage 1940s French Organic Modern Chairs
MaterialsStraw, Rush, Oak
- Giuseppe Scapinelli Brazilian Modern Chair in Caviuna Rosewood and LeatherBy Giuseppe ScapinelliLocated in Brooklyn, NY1950s modernist ladder-back chair executed in Brazilian rosewood with leather seat, designed by Giuseppe Scapinelli. Professionally restored with original patina left untouched and r...Category
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Rosewood
- Hans J Wegner The Chair Model JH501 in Teak with Original Cane SeatBy Hans J. WegnerLocated in Brooklyn, NYA beautiful example of Hans Wegner's timeless The Chair or Round Chair built by cabinetmaker, Johannes Hansen, in solid teak with its original cane seat. The caning is 95% intact and...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsCane, Teak
- Rare Emil Milan Tri-Footed Long Bowl in Bissilon, Honduras, c. 1964By Emil MilanLocated in Brooklyn, NYA tri-footed Mask Bowl in hand-carved bissilon by Emil Milan. This design, whose underside appears as a tribal mask, was one of several conceived by Milan and Joyce Anderson...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
MaterialsHardwood
- Early and Rare Evert Sodergren Sculptured Chair, circa 1955By Evert SodergrenLocated in Brooklyn, NYThe 'Sculptured' chair was originally designed in 1953 by Pacific Northwest master craftsman and cabinetmaker, Evert Sodergren, and it is the crown jewel of his oeuvre which spanned ...Category
Vintage 1950s American American Craftsman Armchairs
MaterialsBrass
Price Upon Request - Finn Juhl Lounge Chair Model FD 136 in TeakBy Finn JuhlLocated in Brooklyn, NYLounge chair model number FD 136 designed by Finn Juhl for France & Son, Denmark, with a curved backrest and an undulating seat that float within a spare, elega...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsCotton, Teak
- 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
- 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 Mira Nakashima Conoid Lounge Chairs After George Nakashima, 2000By George Nakashima, Mira NakashimaLocated in Rockaway, NJPair Mira Nakashima conoid lounge chairs after George Nakashima 2000.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsWalnut
- George Nakashima Straight Chair for KnollBy George Nakashima, KnollLocated 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
- George Nakashima Studio Grass Seated ChairBy George Nakashima, George Nakashima StudioLocated in Los Angeles, CAGrass-seated chair from circa 1950s production in black walnut by George Nakashima for Nakashima Studios with original seagrass seat. Two chairs available; priced individually. Meas...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsWalnut, Seagrass
$6,500 / item - Asian American George Suyeoka Studio Prototype Chair in the Style of NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in Cincinnati, OHA studio crafted oiled black American walnut sculptural chair in the manner of George Nakashima designed and made by Japanese American George Suyeoka, f...Category
Mid-20th Century American American Craftsman Chairs
MaterialsWood, Walnut