Mira Nakashima on Keeping Her Father’s Woodworking Legacy Alive

In art and design circles, the name George Nakashima is synonymous with expert woodworking, exquisite furniture, and high-quality craftsmanship. Over the past 30-plus years, his daughter, the architect and furniture maker Mira Nakashima, has not only artfully built upon his techniques and time-honored traditions, further cementing his legacy, but also stepped outside of his shadow and carved a name for herself. Having worked full-time at George Nakashima Woodworkers since 1970, Mira took over as its president and creative director upon her father’s death in 1990. Since then, she has carried on his unfinished projects, continued producing dozens of his designs, and also developed many of her own creations, including her Keisho and Shoki furniture lines. Through it all, Mira has remained as humble as ever and maintained a deep reverence for her father, his boundless creativity, and his exacting vision.

On this episode, Nakashima talks about her family’s time spent in a Japanese internment camp during World War II; the enduring “karma yoga” influence of the Indian philosopher and spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo, whom her father once studied under and worked for as an architect; and why her father considered his work “an antidote to the modern world.”

Special thanks to our Season 8 sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.

Show notes: 

[01:15] George Nakashima Woodworkers

[03:39] Nakashima Foundation for Peace

[03:43] George Nakashima

[03:52] Altar for Peace at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

[04:08] Altar for Peace at the Russian Academy of Arts

[04:14] Altar for Peace in Auroville, India

[08:42] Hague Appeal for Peace

[13:52] Sri Aurobindo

[15:36] Bnai Keshet

[15:45] St. Martin of Tours

[15:50] Monastery of Christ in the Desert

[15:58] Queen of Peace Chapel

[17:14] Ivan Wyschnegradsky

[17:22] Antonin Raymond

[17:36] Golconde

[21:00] George Nakashima Woodworker

[23:07] Katsura Imperial Villa

[23:26] Junzō Yoshimura

[30:11] Udar Pinto

[31:27] The Soul of a Tree

[42:07] Nature Form & Spirit: The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima

[45:22] The Krosnicks’ furniture collection

[49:54] Keisho collection

[54:14] Shoki collection