George Nakashima Desk with Wall-Mounted Case in Walnut

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George Nakashima Desk with Wall-Mounted Case in Walnut

About the Item

George Nakashima, desk with sliding-door wall-mounted cabinet, American black walnut, English walnut, pandanus cloth, United States, 1960 With regard to its essential form, material use, and woodwork, this unique combination of desk with wall-mounted cabinet is a testimony to George Nakashima's expert craftsmanship and distinctive methodology. This design was specially made for a private client in 1960. The sideboard revolves around a linear and strict layout with sharp lines and angular shapes dominating the scenery. Besides their functional property, the exposed dovetail joints have a strong decorative character, a constructive feature that is observable in these types of cabinets and benches by Nakashima. The vertically grilled sliding doors are backed with pandanus cloth, made from a Southeast Asian Palm. Behind the three sliding doors, the interior houses shelves. This clean appearance stands in striking juxtaposition with the organically shaped contours of the table’s wooden slab, where the edges flow freely and unrestrained. In addition, this free-form character of the top beautifully contrasts with the streamlined simplicity of the desk’s base, a characteristic hallmark of Nakashima’s style. Nakashima succeeded in creating a durable configuration of furniture pieces with a timeless aesthetic and impeccable quality made possible by his close relationship with nature. George Nakashima (1905-1990) was a well-known woodworker, architect, and furniture designer from Japanese descendants. He was born in Spokane, Washington and enrolled in the University of Washington program in architecture. After his graduation in 1931, he decided to live his life as a bohemian in France. Afterwards, he spent some time in North Africa and eventually settled in Japan for some time. There, he started working for Antonin Raymond, who was an American architect. While working for Raymond, Nakashima extensively toured Japan while trying to understand the Japanese architecture and design. Around 1940, Nakashima decided to leave Japan and returned to the US. However, like many others with a Japanese ancestry, he was interned during World War Two and sent to Camp Minidoka in Idaho. There, Nakashima met a master woodcarver who tutored him in Japanese crafting techniques. From him, he learned to master traditional Japanese hand tools and joinery techniques. From here onwards, he began to use woodworking with discipline and patience, striving towards perfection in his designs. In 1943, he was released from the camp and invited by Antonin Raymond to live in his farm in New Hope, Pennsylvania. During this period, New Hope formed the home port for many great designers such as Frank Lloyd Powell and Paul Evans. Nakashima was a very spiritual and philosophical designer. The basis of Nakashima's work was derived from his practice of integral yoga. Therefore, primary goal of Nakashima's work was to live in harmony with nature rather than to destroy it for their own use. Above all, Nakashima wanted to embody a message to all modern societies that we must constantly remember the eternal in all that we do. He often said of his own work that he gave trees a second life. His designs are known for their exquisite craftsmanship and are often 'signed' with dovetails and butterfly connections. With these ideas in mind, Nakashima created his own style based on Japanese designs and shop practices, combined with the American and International Modern Styles. Therefore, he became one of the best 20th century American Art furniture designers.

Creator:
George Nakashima Studio (Workshop/Studio),George Nakashima (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 29.93 in (76 cm)Width: 79.14 in (201 cm)Depth: 87.01 in (221 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Walnut
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1960-1969
Date of Manufacture:
1960
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Every item Morentz offers is checked by our team of 30 craftspeople in our in-house workshop. Special restoration or reupholstery requests can be done. Check ‘About the item’ or ask our design specialists for detailed information on the condition.
Seller Location:
Waalwijk, NL
Reference Number:
Seller: 501129271stDibs: LU933137947222

Shop All George Nakashima

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.