There are few Americans in the international winners’ circle of blue-chip modern designers, but George Nakashima is now certainly one of them. “He’s the only American designer who is popular among Europeans and in Asia,” says Robert Aibel, of Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia, a leading specialist. “He’s popular all over the world.”
Nakashima, a Japanese-American woodworker and MIT-trained architect, has taken his place alongside Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Carlo Mollino, Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé, Marc Newson, and others who constitute the heart of the current market for high-end collectible design. Prices for Nakashima’s extravagantly naturalistic furniture rose substantially in the 2000s, up to a record $822,400 for Arthur and Evelyn Krosnick’s Arlyn dining table in redwood burl and black walnut, offered at Sotheby’s New York in 2006. Although this high has not been repeated since the market’s crash in 2008, unlike some of his peers’, Nakashima’s values have recovered and returned to a level enjoyed in 2003 and 2004.
Influenced as a young designer by the spiritual integrity of the Shakers and as a maturing woodworker by the “soul” of the trees whose wood he used, Nakashima worked from his studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania, for 44 years until his death in 1990, executing commissions for Rockefellers as well as for appreciators of more modest means. The great value of his objects lies in their inherent uniqueness: Large or small, grand or chaste, each exhibits the skill, philosophy, and signature of the designer responding to the wood’s silent guidance, what Nakashima called its “particular destiny.” And the works’ broad appeal crosses stylistic boundaries. Rudy Ciccarello, who bought the record-setting Arlyn table, is an Arts & Crafts collector; it was his first modern design acquisition.
WHAT THE MARKET WANTS NOW
Though Nakashima did much clean, straight-edge work, what collectors favor now are the “free edge” pieces that put the wood and the woodworker on dramatic display through inkblot-like shapes, swirling burls and grains, fissures, and Nakashima’s signature butterfly joints. Several of his half-dozen design groups, most notably the Conoid and Minguren I and II series, feature these elements, and the forms that show them best are dining, coffee, and end tables, though cabinets, sideboards, benches, and lamps can also have them. Almost all of Nakashima’s seating is straight-edged, though there are exceptions.
THE GOLDEN ERA
Recognized as a master craftsman in the United States and Japan by the mid 1970s, Nakashima continued to refine his techniques and design families and to invest in more exotic woods. Meaghan Roddy, a specialist in the design department at Phillips de Pury & Company in New York, which sold a 1981 buckeye burl walnut table for $104,500 in December 2010, confirms that output from the ’70s and ’80s is considered prime: “It’s the same designs, but more money, better wood, and he’s honed his craft.”
GOOD, BETTER, BEST
The 2000s boom flushed an abundance of previously unseen material — some say an overabundance — from the homes of Nakashima’s original patrons. Pieces are offered each season at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York and larger regional outlets like Los Angeles Modern Auctions and Rago Arts and Auction Center in Lambertville, New Jersey (which has historically enjoyed a surfeit of material because of its proximity to New Hope), but the houses have become increasingly discriminating about what they offer. Experts agree that Nakashima is very much a market of “good, better, best,” and buyers should shop accordingly. “Start with the wood,” advises Richard Wright, director of the Wright auction house in Chicago. “Is it an exceptional piece of wood? Is it an excellent execution of its form? The best pieces have fantastic proportion.” Then, he says, consider provenance and condition.
THE STUDIO SURVIVES
Since Nakashima’s death at age 85, his daughter, Mira, has run the studio, which produces approximately 65 designs on commission — including classics of George’s and originals of hers, such as the Keisho collection — from an expansive inventory of wood, some of it selected by George himself. Although he rarely signed and dated his work unless asked, more usually writing the client’s name in black marker on the underside of the wood they had chosen — that mark, an order card, and frequently a shop drawing are now the keys to identifying a Nakashima piece. Posthumous production is signed and dated. Very occasionally, a work begun by George and completed by Mira after his death is attributed to both.
GAUGING PRICE
As for any blue-chip designer, exceptional examples will fetch exceptional prices, though they are lower today than the records set in 2007 and 2008. According to James Zemaitis, a senior vice president of 20th-century design at Sotheby’s, Nakashima’s coffee tables, perennial favorites for their manageable size as well as their beauty, might reach $150,000 for a best-of-the-best example, but the bulk are priced between $20,000 and $30,000. On October 28, Rago will offer a 1982–83 Minguren II table in French olive ash burl and walnut with an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. Another popular model, the Kornblut case, saw prices rise in the mid 2000s but should be under $40,000 today, says Aibel. Because of the amount of material being offered, comparison shopping among sources is useful. If the asking price seems questionable for something not too out of the ordinary, check the studio’s catalogue. Contemporary studio commissions, which remain in demand, basically set the prices for standard examples, even many vintage pieces. The romance of the process—going to the studio, selecting the wood, and working with Mira as a patron — is far more in step with the Nakashima heritage than mere furniture shopping.
To see furniture works by George Nakashima, click on the slideshow.
This article was published in the November 2012 issue of Art+Auction.