A Presentation of George Nakashima’s Exceptional Woodworks at PAD London

“Trees have a yearning to live again, perhaps to provide the beauty, strength and utility to serve man, even to become an object of great artistic worth,” says George Nakashima, the late, great American woodworker, architect, and furniture designer, in his 1981 book The Soul of a Tree. At PAD London, ardent collectors of the legendary craftsman’s work will have the opportunity to give new life to a sought-after Nakashima creation by visiting the booth of Gallery BR, which makes its debut at the design fair this year.

An art and antiques emporium founded by Barcelona natives Pep Boixader and Cuca Riera in the bucolic town of Tetbury in the Cotswolds, Gallery BR is assiduously selective in sourcing rare and exceptional objects from a range of time periods and places. In the three-storey heritage-listed building the gallery calls home, a group of 18th-century Spanish mortars might sit comfortably alongside a midcentury rotating stool by Jean Prouvé and paintings by contemporary artists. The atmosphere at the gallery is warm and inviting, and the owners believe that when it comes to designing a room, including just one really good piece can make all the difference.

“It is an honour to be able to show the Nakashima collection, which we have built up over the last year and a half, at a fair like PAD,” says gallery spokesperson Anna Chappell. “We especially feel that pieces crafted by the Nakashima family represent who we are as a gallery: a family business focused on and respecting tradition, aesthetics, and beauty.”

The gallery will also show works by New York and Oaxaca–based Mexican contemporary artist Bosco Sodi, who creates sculptures and monochrome paintings by mixing raw pigment with sawdust, wood, pulp, natural fibres, and glue. Sodi’s reverence for natural materials and his spiritual approach to creating art make his work a perfect complement to furniture by the Nakashimas.

Selecting a significant work to keep an eye out for at the Gallery BR booth, Chappell says: “The single-pedestal desk by George Nakashima is an absolute masterpiece. Nakashima hand-picked each piece of wood for every piece of furniture he created, allowing the knots, textures, and life of the wood to carry on their existence through the form in which they were cut, stored, and eventually presented. The single-pedestal desk has a freeform top which follows the shapes and curves of the tree it came from; paired with the architectural pedestal, this desk represents George Nakashima’s history as a furniture maker. This piece comes with the invoice of its purchase in 1968 and was part of the collection of an original Nakashima collector.”

While it remains to be seen who will add their name to the record of this desk’s distinguished provenance, any piece of furniture or artwork created with such care and noble intention is sure to provide ample inspiration to its owner. The right buyer will not regard its acquisition as a mere transaction but as the beginning of a fulfilling new relationship of mutual benefit.

From October 8 to 13, design connoisseurs leap to PAD London, the international design fair poised to launch its 16th edition. Over 10 weeks, NUVO shines a spotlight on the fair’s roster of talented newcomers, many of whom are local to London, and identifies the artists and exhibitors who should be on every visitor’s radar.

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