In 1992, the Michener Art Museum commissioned architect and furniture maker Mira Nakashima (b.1942) to design a Memorial Reading Room in honor of her father, architect and woodworker George Nakashima (1905-1990). The Nakashima Reading Room features George Nakashima’s furniture designs within a Japanese tearoom setting, offering space for rest and quiet reflection to the museum visitor.
Born in 1905 in Spokane, Washington, George Nakashima was a second-generation Japanese-American architect and woodworker known for his hand-crafted furniture. Nakashima first trained as an architect, working in the architectural firm of Antonin (1888-1976) and Noemi (1889-1980) Raymond in Tokyo. After returning to the United States from his experience overseeing the construction of Golconde, the first reinforced concrete building in India in 1936, the young, newly-married architect in 1941 made a switch from architecture to furniture-making. The architectural practice in the United States at that time did not exhibit the same devotion to fine craftsmanship that he experienced during his years in Asia.
In 1942, during World War II, the Nakashima family was incarcerated in Minidoka, Idaho, because of their Japanese heritage. Through the sponsorship of the Raymonds, the Nakashimas were released to the Raymond Farm in New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1943, where George Nakashima established his furniture business. In his autobiography The Soul of a Tree (1981), Nakashima expressed his beliefs that each tree possessed a spirit and destiny, and woodworking provided them a second life. Combining this philosophy with modern design and traditional Japanese craftsmanship, Nakashima created unique pieces of furniture from solid, plain sawn wood, revealing the tree’s natural form and unique grain patterns.