An Idea is Planted

Something like this would be perfect in our living room!

Well, here I am, embarking upon a new chapter of my life. If you would have told me a few years ago that I'd be making furniture I wouldn't have believed you. I was never very "handy." I didn't learn much growing up about tools and how to use them. In fact as of a few years ago a tool box, some screwdrivers, a hammer and a drill were the extent of my tool collection. A lot has changed since then. After my future wife moved in with me a few years ago, I gained a new interest in making my place look "cool." My wife had a huge influence on me of course. Gone were the days where a $40 coffee table constituted something stylish and functional. I started scouring the internet, looking for something that suited our style. We both loved mid-century modern decor and modern and contemporary aesthetics. I stumbled upon the work of a Japanese-American woodworker named George Nakashima and was instantly impressed and intrigued.

George Nakashima sits on his famous cantilevered "Conoid Chair"

I hadn't heard of him before, simply because I hadn't really ever delved that far into modern design. So, our initial thought was to buy a table like this from somewhere. Shortly thereafter we realized just how much a table like that costs. Some were upwards of $2,000+. Antiques were even more. Having recently refinished a chair my wife had from her college days, I declared that I would instead build a table...

My original plan seemed quick and easy to me. I was simply going to go to a local lumber yard, buy a live edge slab of some species of wood, make it flat and sand and finish it, then screw in 3 pre-made, tapered Danish-style legs.

Enter: the father-in-law. My father-in-law is an award-winning decoy carver. He's made his fair share of furniture too and done it well. He has a shop with nearly anything and everything a woodworker could need. When he got wind of my intentions to make this "easy" coffee table, he said, "you're going to build this the right way." After some hesitation I agreed it was the best thing to do.

One of the many buildings available to tour on the Nakashima
property, many of which George built with his own hands.
George Nakashima came from humble beginnings and he
and his family suffered many hardships before he emerged as
a prominent figurehead in the history of furniture design.

So, I researched the hell out of Nakashima's furniture via the web, finding out as much as I could. I quickly realized Nakashima had passed away in 1998, but his daughter was carrying on his legacy in New Hope, PA, designing new furniture and also producing the classic Nakashima pieces. And, the best news was that their studios and workshops were free to tour! Naturally I was thrilled that I could not only view the kind of pieces I imagined making, but also speak with the fine craftsmen who were producing them. Visiting this wonderful place has proved invaluable to me in my research; it's also humbling and inspiring to see just what people are capable of making.

The property is filled with beautiful
examples of Nakashima's furniture.

Next I embarked on my first actual woodworking project. Being in Pennsylvania has turned out to be ideal when it comes to getting good lumber. The hardwood forests of PA are famous for their timber. I found a lumber yard close by and impulsively picked out a walnut slab I thought would work. Then it was a matter of getting over to the father-in-laws in NJ to work on my first project... a project that would take much longer than anticipated, but in the end was rewarding in many ways, the least of which was having something to put a drink on while my wife and I watched television.