George Nakashima Dining Table
View Similar Items
George Nakashima Dining Table
About the Item
- Creator:George Nakashima (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 73.5 in (186.69 cm)Depth: 64 in (162.56 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1958
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Excellent, Restored.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: U11031479162270
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 Trestle Dining TableBy George NakashimaLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOA beautiful piece. Table features a six-plank top with sap grain details. Signed with client's name to underside ‘Dr. Chan’. Manufacturer Nakashima Studio, USA Date 1968 Dimensio...Category
Vintage 1960s American Dining Room Tables
MaterialsCherry, Walnut
- Nakashima For Widdicomb Drop Leaf TableBy Widdicomb Furniture Co.Located in Brooklyn, NYMid-Century Modern dining table designed by George Nakashima for the “Origins” collection manufactured by Widdicomb Furniture, circa 1950s. Simple and elegant design features a free ...Category
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Antique George III Quality Mahogany Drop Leaf Dining TableLocated in Suffolk, GBAntique George III quality mahogany drop leaf dining table having a quality mahogany top with oval drop leaves supported by swing out gate legs standing on shaped cabriole legs with ...Category
Antique Early 19th Century English George III Dining Room Tables
MaterialsOther
- American Studio Craft Solid Walnut Drop Leaf Dining Table by Walker WeedBy George NakashimaLocated in BROOKLYN, NYWonderful American Studio craft solid walnut drop leaf dining table by Woodworker Walker weed with 4 tapered legs. Organic table design made in ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut
$5,246 Sale Price25% Off - George Nakashima Studio Black Walnut Dining TableBy George Nakashima Studio, George NakashimaLocated in Los Angeles, CADining table from American midcentury craftsman George Nakashima. The black walnut table features four splayed tapered dowel legs which support a large round table top. The table top showcases...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- George Nakashima Boat-Shaped Trestle Dining TableBy George Nakashima Studio, George NakashimaLocated in Waalwijk, NLGeorge Nakashima for George Nakashima Studio, boat-shaped ‘trestle’ dining table, cherry, rosewood, United States, 1982 This exquisite dining table was designed by George Nakashima ...Category
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut