George Nakashima
Early Chests of Drawers (Pair), 1947
Material: American black walnut, maple
This chest of drawers was Nakashima’s earliest chest design. A rough model of this chest was made and sent to Knoll around 1945, possibly for manufacturing consideration. It was never produced by Knoll. However, in 1948 Florence Knoll designed a chest for production, also with louvered drawers, that’s clearly derivative of the Nakashima chest. After Knoll decided not to manufacture the chest, George refined the original 1945 rough chest design (never illustrated in his catalogue), and he offered it as a studio-made piece until sometime between 1948 and 1950, after which he discontinued the louvered drawers. It’s likely that Nakashima made fewer than 10 of this design. Only 5 are known to exist today.
George Nakashima was born in Spokane, Washington in 1905 to Japanese parents who had immigrated to the United States. Educated and trained as an architect at the University of Washington, Nakashima received his Master’s degree in Architecture from M.I.T. in 1930. After working briefly as an architect in the United States he left for Paris seeking the creative energies of one of the great urban centers of the day. From there he traveled extensively, ending up at the home of his grandmother, living on a farm on the outskirts of Tokyo.
| Dimensions | 36 × 19 × 33.5 in |
|---|---|
| Artist | |
| Color | Brown, yellow |
| Date | 1947 |
| Material | American black walnut, maple |
| Style |
