Nature Form & Spirit / The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima (SIGNED)

Nakashima, Mira

ISBN 10: 0810945363 / ISBN 13: 9780810945364

Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 2003

About this Item

A heavy and elegant horizontal quarto. Binding square and firm. Number line complete 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 -- the first printing. Hand-dated December 2003 and signed "Mira Nakashima" (George's daughter, here signing her full name) to the title page. Then, above that -- with a different pen but in the same hand -- she has inscribed "for Marc -- on December 24, 2009 / Best Wishes!" Born in Spokane, Washington, George Katsutoshi Nakashima himself (1905-1990) was an American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker, one of the leading innovators of 20th century furniture design and a father of the American craft movement. In 1931, after earning a master's degree in architecture from M.I.T., Nakashima sold his car and purchased a round-the-world tramp steamship ticket. Eventually reaching Japan, he went to work for Antonin Raymond, an American architect who had collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright on the Imperial Hotel. While working for Raymond, Nakashima toured Japan extensively, studying the subtleties of Japanese architecture and design. In 1940 Nakashima returned to America, and began to make furniture and teach woodworking in Seattle. Like others of Japanese ancestry, he was interned during the Second World War and sent to Camp Minidoka in Hunt, Idaho, in March 1942. At the camp he met Gentaro (sometimes spelled Gentauro) Hikogawa, a man trained in traditional Japanese carpentry. Under his tutelage, Nakashima learned to master traditional Japanese hand tools and joinery techniques. In 1943, Antonin Raymond successfully sponsored Nakashima?s release from the camp and invited him to his farm in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where Nakashima established his studio and workshop. Nakashima's signature woodworking design was his large-scale tables made of large wood slabs with smooth tops but unfinished natural edges, often consisting of multiple, matching slabs connected with butterfly joints. In 1983, he accepted the Order of the Sacred Treasure, an honor bestowed by the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. Author Mira Nakashima, his daughter, received her masters degree in architecture ferom Waseda University, Tokyo. She worked for years as a colleague and designer in her father's workshop. Upon his death in 1990, she became creative director of the Nakashima Studio, New Hope, Pennsylvania. 276 pp. including index & photography credits. This is a heavy book which would be likely to cost $70 to ship overseas. Book here reduced from $1,200.

Seller Inventory # 011556

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Nature Form & Spirit / The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima (SIGNED)
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810945363
• ISBN 13: 9780810945364
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Collectables

About this title

Synopsis

Acclaimed furniture designer George Nakashima (1905-1990) made boldly original pieces prized for their superb craftsmanship and their organic use of the natural lines and grain of wood. Today his beautiful creations are avidly sought by private collectors and are housed in museum collections all over the world. This survey of Nakashima's life and work written by his daughter, the noted designer Mira Nakashima is the most revealing look we have ever had at this woodworking genius and his profound influence on contemporary design. Mira Nakashima chronicles not only the furniture designs for which her father was best known, but also his equally fine work as an architect. Illustrated with a wealth of photographs never before published and containing much new information from the Nakashima studio archives, Nature, Form, and Spirit is timed to coincide with the release of a full-length documentary film on Nakashima and an exhibition at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego. In exploring his personal and philosophic journey, Mira Nakashima provides a remarkable look at the development of an artist whose reverence for nature was at the heart of his creative work.

About the Author

Mira Nakashima worked for many years with her father, the renowned furniture designer George Nakashima. Since her father's death in 1990, she has been the creative director of the Nakashima studio, where she continues to produce her father's designs as well as designing and developing her own work. She lives with her family at the studio compound in New Hope, Pennsylvania.