Mira Nakashima

Mira Nakashima-Yarnall (born 1942) is an architect and furniture maker. She is the daughter of George Nakashima and is now the president and creative director of George Nakashima, Woodworker.

Early life and education Nakashima was born in 1942 in Seattle, Washington. When Mira was six weeks old, during World War II, she was sent with her parents to the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. An image from 1945 shows the Nakashima family gathered for dinner in their Pennsylvania home.

Nakashima was interested in studying music or languages, but her father urged her to follow in his footsteps and study architecture. She attended Harvard University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963. She went on to receive a master's degree in architecture from Waseda University in Tokyo.

Nakashima picked up right where her father left off, continuing his tradition as well as exploring some new possibilities. In 2003, Nakashima published a book titled Nature, Form & Spirit: The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima which coincided with a documentary film and an exhibit of George Nakashima work at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego. In 2001, Nakashima held an exhibition at Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia showcasing her father's original work alongside new works created under her supervision. "The Keisho Collection: Continuity and Change in the Nakashima Tradition" was the first catalogue of works designed and produced by Mira Nakashima and was meant to show the new direction in the Nakashima Studio. Work from the Keisho collection have been exhibited at Mingei International Museum in San Diego, the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Idaho, and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. In 2003, she designed and produced chairs for the Concordia Chamber Players, which are now sold as the Concordia Chair in the Nakashima line. She displayed work at the Moderne Gallery again in September 2013, in an exhibition titled "Nakashima Woodworkers: An Evolving Legacy." In 2019 she curated a show at the Michener Art Museum titled "Nakashima Looks: Studio Furniture at the Michener." The exhibition featured her own work alongside work by Wharton Esherick, Isamu Noguchi, Harry Bertoia, Phillip Lloyd Powell, Paul Evans, and Noémi Raymond. A piece that was displayed at the exhibition titled "Tsuitate Sofa," exemplifies Nakashima's intricate approach to woodworking, while still keeping true to her father's sense of design. In 2020, she collaborated with architect John Heah to produce furniture for the Connaught Grill in London.

In 2007, Mira Nakashima was featured in a LANDSCAPE episode of Craft in America on PBS. In 2010, she was interviewed by oral historian James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Nakashima and her studio were featured in Nick Offerman's 2016 book Good Clean Fun. When asked what kind of legacy she would like to leave behind to the next generation of woodworkers, Nakashima offered a summation of her artistic philosophy: "Harvest materials sustainably and replant as many trees as possible. Know and respect the woods local to your area and use them whenever possible... Do not imitate forms, but create your own. Remember that less is more; don’t complicate things just to be different."

Personal life Her daughter, Maria, is an architect living in Winnipeg.