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Conoid Chair by George Nakashima / American Art
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Conoid Chair

1971 George Nakashima Born: Spokane, Washington 1905 Died: New Hope, Pennsylvania 1990 walnut and hickory 35 3/8 x 20 5/8 x 18 3/4 in. (89.8 x 52.5 x 47.6 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Lloyd E. Herman, founding director and director emeritus of the Renwick Gallery (1971-1986) 1991.125 Not currently on view



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Conoid Chair



"It is an art and a soul-satisfying adventure to walk the forests of the world, to commune with trees, to take them when mature or even dead and . . . to bring this living material to the work bench, ultimately to give it a second life." George Nakashima, Woodworker, 1984


Conoid Chair was built from a slab of walnut cantilevered over two legs that George Nakashima designed to make the chair movable on carpeting. The chair was named after Nakashima's studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania, which was modeled on the section of a cone. The thin hickory spindles rising up to support a gently arced cross-member evoke the elegant window walls of the studio, and recall the colonial tradition of simple, functional spindle-back chairs.

Keywords

decorative arts - furniture

Crafts - Wood

wood - hickory

wood - walnut

About George Nakashima

Born: Spokane, Washington 1905 Died: New Hope, Pennsylvania 1990

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George Nakashima

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