Floor Cabinet by George Nakashima
View Similar Items
Floor Cabinet by George Nakashima
About the Item
- Creator:George Nakashima (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 72 in (182.88 cm)Length: 32 in (81.28 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960's
- Condition:This piece was purchased from the original. It has not been touched.
- Seller Location:Sea Cliff, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU85861323700
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.
- George Nakashima CabinetBy George NakashimaLocated in New York, NYSliding Door Cabinet by George Nakashima. American black walnut, oak, brass. This cabinet features an overhanging top with a long free-edge. 3 sliding doors with 2 side compartments ...Category
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$125,000 - Free Edge George Nakashima 2-Door CabinetBy George NakashimaLocated in West Palm Beach, FLAn early cabinet consisting of 2 sliding doors concealing 4 drawers and a shelf. George Nakshima sliding door cabinet Open shelf on 1 side, 4 drawers...Category
Vintage 1960s North American Cabinets
MaterialsWalnut
- George IV Display Cabinet of Small SizeLocated in London, GBA George IV display cabinet of small proportions. Of breakfront form, constructed in goncalo alves, with brass inlays; rising from carved gadroon capped naturalistically carved a...Category
Antique 19th Century English George IV Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
- Rosewood Cabinet by D.I.MBy D.I.M. Decoration Intérieure ModerneLocated in Brooklyn, NYRosewood cabinet by DIM (Joubert & Petit) (decoration interieure moderne).Category
Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Cabinets
MaterialsRosewood
$5,950 Sale Price30% Off - George Nakashima Walnut Sideboard, 1961By George NakashimaLocated in Dallas, TXA walnut sideboard 60" in width, straight edge top, wood doors, sub sap streak top and sides, 4 drawers on left and shelves on right. Documentation included.Category
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Sideboards
MaterialsWalnut
- Ceramic Contemporary Cabinet by FainaBy Victoria YakushaLocated in Geneve, CHCeramic contemporary cabinet by FAINA Design: Victoriya Yakusha Material: clay, ash Dimensions: 175 x 50 x H 58.5 cm Made in the style of e...Category
2010s Ukrainian Organic Modern Cabinets
MaterialsClay, Ash