Pair of Chairs from St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Karuizawa, Japan

George Nakashima designed this rare pair of chairs under the studio of Antonin Raymond for the St Paul’s Catholic Church in Karuizawa, Japan, in 1934. 

The structure of the church was built using peeled-poles of Cryptomeria (Sugi, in Japanese / Japanese Cedar in English). Interior photographs of the church show that the poles are left exposed, a gesture pertaining to a vernacular style, free of industrial homogeneity. 

The chairs for the church mark Nakashima’s first foray into furniture design—the beginnings of a now widely celebrated style that highlights the inconsistencies inherent in natural materials. 

The chairs are basic and holistic in their assembly: posts and crossbars are made from the same branches of the trees used to construct the building. The legs are joined through visible means of squared wooden pegs protruding from the cylindrical cedar components, and the seat is woven with seagrass (another local tradition). The backrest is similarly formed by a curved steel rod cushioned with seagrass. 

It was believed that only two of the original chairs survived a renovation (which are shown at The George Nakashima Memorial Museum) until recently, when a set of six were discovered in a private collection in New Zealand. 

Year: 1934

Material: Cedarwood, seagrass, steel

Dimensions:  W 17 ¼ x D 18 ¾ x H 31 ¾ x SH 16 ¾ in