Large George Nakashima Free Edge Conoid Dining Table in American Black Walnut

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Large George Nakashima Free Edge Conoid Dining Table in American Black Walnut

About the Item

George Nakashima, large free edge cross-legged dining table in American black walnut, United States, 1959. This exquisite and exceptionally large dining table was designed by George Nakashima and created in his studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Described by the master himself as a very ‘special’ table, this rare piece was designed specifically for the client in 1959 and created custom to their wishes. Interestingly, the table was designed at an early period of Nakashima’s design practice in the Conoid Studio. It was created at a crucial stage of Nakashima’s shift to his famous ‘Conoid line’: a defining moment in his thinking. Though not yet specifically marked as a ‘Conoid’ table at the time, it featured the characteristics specific to this line. Starting from 1957, in his own newly built Conoid Studio, Nakashima’s designs gradually became more fluent and natural. His sleek and straight Shaker-inspired designs of the 1940s and early 1950s evolved into more organic designs with a great display of the natural shapes of the wood that he used. With its free edges, curved lines and the true character of the tree is on full show. This specific table is truly an early yet perfect example of Nakashima’s developments at time. As he presented the new series of designs in a catalogue in 1961, this table was finished just before this important moment. Observing the piece now, every inch truly shows the amazing craftsmanship and quality of the work of George Nakashima. The grain in the top displays the gorgeous flowing lines of the American walnut, which shapes are also subtly reflected in the organic free edge sides. Very elegant to the whole appearance is the double cross-legged base including two supports, which is a key feature of the Conoid line. One of the key features and a distinctive detail for Nakashima's designs, are the four butterfly joints on that connect the two parts of the tabletop. 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 other 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 (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 28.75 in (73 cm)Width: 96.46 in (245 cm)Depth: 40.16 in (102 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Walnut
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1959
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Every item Morentz offers is checked by our team of 30 craftsmen in our in-house workshop. Special restoration or reupholstery requests can be done. We guarantee a very high quality standard, ask our design specialists for detailed information.
Seller Location:
Waalwijk, NL
Reference Number:
Seller: 501109661stDibs: LU933126566122

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.