Mira Nakashima

Mira Nakashima-Yarnell (born 1942) is an architect and furniture maker. She is the daughter of George Nakashima and is now the President and Creative Director for George Nakashima, Woodworker.
Early life and education.
Nakashima was born in 1942 in Seattle, Washington. When Mira was six months old, during World War II, she was sent alongside her parents to the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. During their imprisonment, her father George learned woodworking under master carpenter Gentaro Hikogawa. After several years they were freed and relocated to New Hope, Pennsylvania. 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 Bachelors of Art degree in 1963. She went on to receive a master's degree in Architecture from Waseda University in Tokyo.
Woodworking career.
In 1970 her father offered her a job in his furniture making workshop and built her a home across the road. Of working with her father, Nakashima states "I was pretty much the understudy... I can't count the number of times I was fired while Dad was alive. It was very good discipline." Over time, Nakashima learned to build all of her father's designs. When George died in 1990 she took over the furniture making business, continuing to produce his designs as well as her own.
Nakashima picked up right where her father left off, continuing his tradition as well as exploring some new possibilities. In addition to the foundational philosophies of George Nakashima to create forms that are reminiscent to the trees, Mira Nakashima instilled the importance of collaboration among the woodworkers and artisans work. 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. In 2003, she designed and produced chairs for the Concordia Chamber Players, which are now sold as the Concordia Chair in the Nakashima line.
Nakashima and her studio were featured in Nick Offerman's 2016 book "Good Clean Fun".
Personal life.
Her daughter, Maria, is an architect living in Winnipeg.