C.F. MARTIN AND COMPANY

George Nakashima was born in Spokane Washington in 1905. He studied Architecture at the University of Washington Seattle and completed his master's degree at MIT in 1931. While working for the architectural firm of Antonin Raymond in Japan his aesthetic would be influenced by the subtleties of Japanese design. Returning to Seattle in 1940 he began teaching furniture making but in 1942 was interned along with other Japanese Americans at the start of World War II. Assisted by his former employer, Antonin Raymond, he won his release in 1943 and moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania. There he blended his exacting craftsmanship with elements of traditional Japanese joinery and American furniture design. His signature pieces incorporated both an Asian and Western sensibility utilizing large butterfly joints to connect the native hardwoods like walnut and maple he found growing in the Delaware Valley. From his New Hope workshop would come a body of work synonymous with the Mid Century Modern movement. With the recognizable butterfly joints in the walnut back, the maple neck and ivy leaf pearl inlay these guitars are a fitting tribute to the master craftsmanship of George Nakashima.