George Nakashima
Frenchman’s Cove I Table, 1974
Material: American Black Walnut
A Frenchman’s Cove I Table by George Nakashima. The work features a single board American Black Walnut top with two free edges atop a Frenchman’s Cove style base.
The base, a highly architectural form, is comprised of four vertical supports upon a cross shaped base with a central stretcher.
As for the distinction between the iterations of the Frenchman’s Cove style, Frenchman’s Cove I Tables are square and feature a more centralized base structure, whereas Frenchman’s Cove II Tables are rectangular and elongate the placement of the base structure.
The Frenchman’s Cove series has a rich history dating to the 1950s in connection with Frenchman’s Cove, a resort hotel in Port Antonio, Jamaica. The Frenchman’s Cove II Dining Table design dates to 1959 (‘Nature, Form, and Spirit’, Mira Nakashima, 2003, p. 167).
“My father received a request to design furniture for the luxury resort in Frenchman’s Cove, Jamaica in 1951. That year, our entire family traveled to the resort so that my father could get a feel for the scope and atmosphere of the resort, an idyllic tropical paradise complex designed to preserve the privacy of each individual unit and featuring virtually limitless custom-designed programs of activities. For this project, my father developed a set of new designs, which utilized Spanish elm, curly mango, light palmetto, and driftwood, which were manufactured in Jamaica by the Friends Craft Industries under Nakashima’s direction and according to his specifications. This line included an unusual grass-seated and grass-backed chair and ottoman, hanging wall cases, headboards, beds, and side tables. The initial shipment from the New Hope production occurred in 1961, and was made of American black walnut. It consisted of five special dining tables and twenty armchairs. A later shipment brought the total to twenty tables and one hundred twenty armchairs, perhaps the largest order of armchairs that Nakashima ever produced for one client.
The dining tables named “Frenchman’s Cove” after the project for which they were designed, have remained in production ever since and represents a culmination of variation on a single-pedestal base. The single central post of earlier versions is multiplied to support a larger square or rectangular tabletop, with a heavy rectangular stretcher on the floor to complete the strongly architectonic understructure that characterizes this design” (‘Nature, Form, and Spirit’, Mira Nakashima, 2003, p. 162).
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 × 36.5 × 29 in |
|---|---|
| Artist | |
| Style | |
| Material | American black walnut |
| Date | 1974 |
