Conoid Chair
George Nakashima (1905–90) famously said, “Furniture should be lived with and not treated as something overly precious,” so it’s not surprising that his Conoid chair was made to be dragged across carpeting.
First built in 1971, the Conoid chair is one of Nakashima’s most celebrated and recognizable designs. It features a slab of black walnut cantilevered over two legs, with distinctive feet that resemble old-fashioned sled runners.
Born in Spokane, Washington, Nakashima led a singular life devoted to woodworking. Although he collaborated with Knoll after World War II as a pioneer of the American Studio Craft movement, he rejected mass production and believed the beauty of a tree lay in its vast imperfections. Nakashima studied architecture extensively, receiving a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1930. But he found inspiration — and picked up essential woodworking techniques — from those around him: the architect Antonin Raymond, who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as fellow Japanese-Americans he encountered when he and his family were interned in Idaho during World War II. Raymond petitioned for the release of the Nakashima family from the camp and helped them resettle in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The Conoid chair’s thin hickory spindles, shaved and faceted by hand with a blocking plane, echo those of colonial Windsor chairs found in Pennsylvania homes in the 1700s. Nakashima’s chair is named for the Conoid Studio he built in New Hope in 1957.
George Nakashima Conoid Chair
Mid-20th Century American Lounge Chairs
Walnut
Vintage 1980s American Lounge Chairs
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American American Craftsman Chairs
Hickory, Walnut
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Ch...
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American American Craftsman Side Chairs
Hickory, Walnut
Late 20th Century American Organic Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Hickory, Walnut
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Hickory, Walnut
Early 2000s American Chairs
Walnut
Late 20th Century Lounge Chairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Walnut
Vintage 1960s North American Chairs
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Benches
Wood, Walnut
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Hickory
Vintage 1970s Japanese Dining Room Chairs
Walnut
Vintage 1970s Japanese Dining Room Chairs
Walnut
Vintage 1970s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Cherry
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Hickory, Walnut
Vintage 1960s American American Craftsman Dining Room Chairs
Walnut
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Benches
Hickory, Walnut
Vintage 1960s North American American Craftsman Chairs
Walnut