Mira Nakashima, daughter of legendary woodworker and architect George Nakashima, is an architect, woodworker, and current director of Nakashima Woodworkers. One of the hallmarks of Nakashima’s craftsmanship are the Japanese aesthetic concepts known as “Shibu, Wabi, Sabi,”: that simple and elegant forms that deepen over time. Nakashima will discuss a number of her father’s projects from Japan to India to the United States, along with stories of her family, led by its strict and brilliant father, George Nakashima.
Mira Nakashima was born in Seattle in 1942 and was incarcerated at Minidoka in the Idaho Desert, and was released with her parents to a farm in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1943. She graduated from Harvard University, cum laude, in 1963, and received a masters in architecture from Waseda University, Tokyo in 1966. She currently serves as a director of the Nakashima Woodworkers in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Recorded March 11, 2023