Designer of the Month: George Nakashima

Week 2

George Nakashima. Courtesy of George Nakashima Woodworker S.A.

As I discussed last week, while he grew up in the Pacific Northwest, before coming back the U.S. to pursue a career as a woodworker, George Nakashima spent quite a few years abroad: a year in Paris, almost 6 years in Tokyo, and three years in an ashram in Pondicherry.[1] Since the years that Nakashima spent in Tokyo were in working at the architectural offices of Antonin Raymond, who had collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright, once Nakashima returned to the U.S. he was, naturally, curious to see some of Wright's work in person. He explains:

After having spent seven years in Asia, with its tradition of fine craftsmanship, I felt I should take a survey trip from Seattle to California to see firsthand what was considered the best of modern American architecture. The work of Frank Lloyd Wright was especially disappointing to me, although the forms used were interesting and the results were causing a certain excitement in the architectural world. I found the structure and the bones of the building somehow inadequate, however, and the workmanship shoddy. I felt that I must find a new vocation, something that I could coordinate from beginning to end. I decided to follow woodworking as my life's work.[2]

It's true. While I am definitely a fan of Wright's work, I've seen quite a few of his buildings for myself, none of which have held up very well. I find it incredibly interesting that this revelation was so life-altering for Nakashima, so much so that he decided that he no longer wanted to be an architect. His plans to become a woodworker, however, had to be temporarily put on hold. I already mentioned last week that Nakashima, his wife Marion and his daughter Mira were sent to an internment camp in Idaho in 1942, but I didn't explain how it turned out to be a bit of luck for Nakashima. It was here that he met Gentaro Hikogawa, a woodworker trained in Japan, who helped Nakashima master traditional Japanese hand tools and joinery techniques, teaching him to strive for the perfection that is a mark of Japanese craft.[3] After a year of study with Hikogawa in the internment camp, Nakashima and his family were given the opportunity to join Antonin Raymond, whom Nakashima had worked for in Japan, at his farm in Pennsylvania, which how Nakashima ended up in New Hope.[4]

George and Mira Nakashima. Courtesy of George Nakashima Woodworker S.A.

In Nakashima's book The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections, he spends a great deal of time ruminating on the tree itself, devoting entire chapters to "the pith center," "the Yaku Sugi and other trees," "timber," and "the woods":

We are left in awe by the nobility of a tree, its eternal patience, its suffering caused by man and sometimes nature, its witness to thousands of years of earth's history, its creations of fabulous beauty. It does nothing but good, with its prodigious ability to serve, it gives off its bounty of oxygen while absorbing gases harmful to other living things. The tree and its pith live on. Its fruits feed us. Its branches shade and protect us. And, finally, when time and weather bring it down, its body offers us timber for our houses and boards for our furniture. The tree lives on.[5]

It's clear from this quote that working with wood was more than just a vocation for Nakashima. He stove to recapture a close relationship with nature in his work, and a great amount of time and care was put into uncovering the perfect use for each part of each board.[6]

"A concept is marked on a board." Courtesy of The Woodworkers Institute.

Of this process of careful assessment, Nakashima explains:

The tree's fate rest with the woodworker. In hundreds of years its lively juices have nurtured its unique substance. A graining, a subtle coloring, an aura, a presence will exist this once, never to reappear. It is to catch this moment, to identify with this presence, to find this fleeting relationship, to capture its spirit, which challenged the woodworker.[7]

I love this sense of a dialogue between the woodworker and timber that Nakashima alludes to. He discusses how the shape, size, thickness, graining, and even defects in a piece of wood help contribute to his decision on what it will eventually be used for, considering both the past and future life of the tree in all of his work.[8] Nakashima used chalk to make the initial indications about where cutting on the board was to be done, but made the final lines in pencil, sketching as accurately to scale as possible, without the aid of T-square.[9]

Detail of table. Courtesy of George Nakashima Woodworker S.A.

And of course, rather than use wood veneer, Nakashima only ever created his works out of solid wood, plainsawn:

Because for me solid wood is honest and real. The grain on the surface you see runs all the way through the wood. It isn't just glued on. Indeed, marring often adds charm to a piece. Good solid wood has a permanent surface, not just a protective skin. Problems of splitting and shrinking can be solved by good design. Furniture, though heavy, need not look bulky if proper proportions are used. My choice must be solid wood over veneer, for the sake of honesty.[10]

While Nakashima died in 1990, his daughter Mira now runs the business, continuing his legacy by creating both Nakashima's iconic designs as well as a new line of furniture, all with the same methods of production that Nakashima used while alive, in the New Hope, PA studio.[11]

[1] George Nakashima, The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections, (New York: Kodansha International, 1981).

[2] George Nakashima, "The Making of a Woodworker: New Hope," The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections (New York: Kodansha International, 1981), 69.

[3] The Woodworkers Institute online, "Profiles: George Nakashima," http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/page.asp?p=624, (accessed June 10, 2010).

[4] George Nakashima, "The Making of a Woodworker: New Hope," The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections (New York: Kodansha International, 1981), 70.

[5] George Nakashima, "The Tree: The Pith Center," The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections (New York: Kodansha International, 1981), 81.

[6] George Nakashima, "The Making of An Object: New Life for the Noble Tree," The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections (New York: Kodansha International, 1981), 112.

[7] Ibid., 113.

[8] Ibid., 112.

[9] George Nakashima, "The Soul of a Tree," The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections (New York: Kodansha International, 1981), 28.

[10] George Nakashima, "The Making of An Object: New Life for the Noble Tree," The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections (New York: Kodansha International, 1981), 116.

[11] George Nakashima Woodworker S.A. online, "About Us: Mira Nakashima," http://www.nakashimawoodworker.com/about_us/mira (accessed June 10, 2010).