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Straight Chair

George Nakashima


Born in 1905 in Washington, the architect and designer George Nakashima could never be accused of following a strictly linear career path. After completing his architectural degree in 1931, George Nakashima lived the life of a bohemian in France, travelled to North Africa and finally to Japan where he met the architect Antonin Raymond and studied Japanese design and architecture tradition. During his military service in Idaho George Nakashima met the Japanese carpenter Gentaro Kenneth Hikogawa, who further instructed him in the traditions of Japanese tools and techniques. The degree of perfection achieved by Nakashima in his art can be seen today in his furniture designs, often individual pieces, and occasionally produced from a particular tree with a particular meaning. His Straight Chair, which he developed around 1946 in the tradition of the classic Windsor chairs is now produced by the American furniture manufacturer Knoll.

Designer George Nakashima


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5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for October 2020

...More specifically architectural and design connections as embodied by the work of, and myriad connections between, Junzo Yoshimura, the architect responsible for Shofuso, George Nakashima arguably best known for his post-War furniture designs and for all his application of traditional craft techniques to Modernist influenced furniture design, and Noémi Pernessin Raymond and Antonin Raymond, two architects who spent much of the 1920s and 1930s working in Japan and who were important mediators in the architectural and design dialogue between the USA and Japan...


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