Nearly 65 works by American designer George Nakashima, including about 20 items made by Nakashima Studio under the supervision of his daughter Mira, have been selected by PIASA to form an exclusive, monographic sale, on the occasion of their next Scandinavian v. Brazilian Design auction in Paris on 16 September 2015. The sale is something of a return to base for Nakashima, who studied in France as a young man, and reveals the tremendous diversity and originality of his work.

The important ensemble showcases some of George Nakashima’s most outstanding designs, many in walnut. Highlights include a unique chest-ofdrawers from 1963 (est. €30,000-40,000), a  bench from 1975 imbued with the refinement so typical of Nakashima’s work (est. €20,000-30,000), or also the coffee table Double Minguren I dated 1970 (est.€30,000-40,000).

Connoisseurs will also be enthralled by a long chair dated 1947 (est. €60,000-80,000) that bears witness to the inspiration Nakashima derived from the pure forms of European Modernism. 

George Nakashima was born in the United States in 1905. After graduating in Architecture at the University of Washington in 1929, he studied at the Ecole Américaine des BeauxArts in Fontainebleau and in Paris he discovered the work in progress of Le Corbusier, which made a deep impression on him. 

Nakashima’s own designs are impregnated with the spirit of his many trips around Europe, and to India and Japan, where he worked as an architect. During World War II (1942/3), because of his Japanese origins, he was interned in a camp in Idaho, where he learned traditional Japanese carpentry. His former employer, the architect Raymond Antonin sponsored his release and invited him to live on his farm in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where Nakashima began to produce many of his most important designs.

‘Giving Wood A Second Life’
The rough yet noble material of wood swiftly became his favourite. Nakashima aimed for his designs to ‘give wood a second life.’ His dialogue with trees offers us the opportunity to communicate directly with nature.

Aided by a small team of assistants, George Nakashima transformed flitch-cut wood into works of art. In the beginning, his output was limited to a few copies of each design, and he worked personally on all of them. He loved to mix traditional Japanese carpentry techniques with wood in its natural state. The great harmony of his furniture derives from the alliance between refined design and the natural forms of wood, as he sought to elevate the natural with elegance.

By blending Oriental savoir-faire with sober aesthetics, natural materials and exquisite craftsmanship, George Nakashima left his unique mark on the world of Design. The many awards he received include the Gold Medal For Craftsmanship from the American Institute of Architects, and the Third Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese government and Emperor of Japan. His work can be found in major collections around the world, among them the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.