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P R O F I L E | G E O R G E N A K A S H I M A
way of working and existing, prodigious
discipline, and purity of form. George
Nakashima's ideal-driven designs—from
the Shaker-inspired, three-legged Mira
chair, named for his daughter, to the
Conoid chair, a puzzlement on two legs
with runners—are, like wood, sustaining
in an uncertain age. Under Mira's archi-
tect-trained hand, and her insistence that
designers be able to draw by hand, the
George Nakashima Woodworkers of today
is not unlike like yesterday: dedicated to
making an honest, organic craft. "Once
you go all digital, you lose contact with the
reality of the material," Mira says. "Making
something by hand—it's a different feeling.
It's expressive. That's what makes it art."
An art, but foremost a craft.
nakashimawoodworkers.com
Her father was right, Mira says, when
he assured her that what people did not
understand in the beginning, they would
come to pay extra for (quite handsomely,
as it happens).
In a highly commodified world driven by
distraction, the Nakashima name means
a great deal, representing a holistic
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