Pair of Nakashima Conoid Chairs
View Similar Items
Pair of Nakashima Conoid Chairs
About the Item
- Creator:Mira Nakashima (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 34 in (86.36 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)Depth: 23 in (58.42 cm)Seat Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1980 c.
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU8474752133
Mira Nakashima
For nearly two decades, Mira Nakashima worked in the shadow of her legendary father, master woodworker George Nakashima. She never intended to follow in his footsteps, but she was persuaded to join him in his woodworking business after earning a graduate degree in architecture from Tokyo’s Waseda University.
“My father was an architect who went to Harvard, didn’t like it and switched to MIT,” Nakashima explains.
“I went to Harvard and loved it. He encouraged me to study architecture, so I did. I would rather have studied music. I was in a dance group and a choral group. After college, my godmother took me on a tour of Zen monasteries in Japan. I went to live there with an aunt to master Japanese, flower arranging and the tea ceremony. Then I went to Waseda University, learning architecture by the atelier system, where you actually build things. I married a fellow student and we began having children. After we moved to Pittsburgh and had more babies, my father asked me if I wanted to come ‘home,’ promising to build us a house near him. My husband liked the idea, so we went. I began to do part-time work for my father. It was just a job. Then my husband and I parted, so I went to work with Dad. It was never planned.”
That part-time position turned into a full-time job, and when George Nakashima died, in 1990, Mira was faced with a choice: continue the family legacy or shutter the business. As news of her father’s death spread, clients started canceling orders, fearing that the studio’s innovation would wane without him at the helm.
Skeptics proved wrong. Mira Nakashima continued to execute her father’s iconic designs — such as his Conoid chair — while also creating new ones of her own that take advantage of and highlight the unique characteristics and allure of her, and her father’s, favored material.
“Keisho means ‘continuation’ in Japanese,” she says. “I am just as interested in traditional lines, classic proportions and fine wood specimens, but I work out my designs differently. The boards tell you what they want to reveal.”
Shop authentic Mira Nakashima tables, case pieces and more on 1stDibs.
More From This Seller
View AllVintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Mahogany
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Slipper Chairs
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Slipper Chairs
Bouclé, Mahogany
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
1990s American Lounge Chairs
Fabric
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Alpaca
You May Also Like
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Wood, Walnut
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Hickory, Walnut
20th Century Japanese Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Hickory, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Wood, Walnut
Vintage 1980s American Lounge Chairs
Walnut
