George Nakashima was a celebrated American woodworker and furniture-maker. He is best known for his involvement in the American Craft movement and for his mastery of traditional Japanese hand tools and joinery techniques. Some of his most acclaimed works are his large tables made from singular wood slabs with irregular natural edges, elegantly held together by a few small butterfly joints. Born on May 24, 1905 in Spokane, WA to Japanese immigrant parents, he went on to earn a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1931. Nakashima later toured the architecture of Japan, where he also worked under the Czech-American architect Antonin Raymond, a collaborator of Frank Lloyd Wright. He produced 200 commissioned pieces for Nelson Rockefeller in 1973, and his property in New Hope, PA was designated a US National Historic Landmark in 2014. Nakashima died on June 15, 1990 in New Hope, PA.