George Nakashima

George Nakashima was an important figure in modern design, his poetry and wooden furniture advocating craft, a connect to materials and production as well as a Japanese aesthetic. 

He studied architecture at the University of Washington, then at the Ecole Americaine des Beaux-Arts Fontainebleau and finally at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He worked for Antonin Raymond. Nakashima received the gold medal for craftsmanship from the American Institute of Architects and the Hazlett Award.

The subject of several one-man exhibitions, Nakashima also authored 'The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections'.