1946

Grass-Seated Chair

American, 1905 - 1990

Nakashima designed this chair in 1944 based on earlier versions made prior to being moved into an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho, during World War 11. In Minidoka he met Japanese woodworker Gentaro K. Hikogawa (1902–1963), who introduced him to a variety of woodworking techniques and aided his understanding of the organic nature of the tree. The first of its kind, the chair is the embodiment of Nakashima’s determination to make furniture that successfully melded East Asian workmanship with modern taste. He dared to embrace a Japanese aesthetic after experiencing deep injustice and discrimination because of his race and ethnicity. Transcending national or racial boundaries, Nakashima considered himself a “citizen of the world.” A combination of American and Japanese aesthetics, the chair was commissioned by Rene d’Harnoncourt and made at Nakashima’s first workshop in New Hope, Pennsylvania.