July, 2013
Nakashima Opening
Last week on Wednesday night we opened our doors for the opening reception of the first Nakashima retrospective in Canada. We had an incredible turn-out and we thank everyone who took the time to visit and say hello to us and the Yarnall-Nakashima family.
An Ikebana bowl specially made by Masanobu Ando, and a flower arrangement by Mira Nakashima with flowers from Coriander Girl. So beautiful!
Conoid dining chairs made with walnut and carved hickory pickets.
Beautiful lounge chairs in cherry with maple burl arms.
Asa-no-ha cabinet with a Conoid coffee table in front. Tea ceremony tools by Masanobu Ando.
Large vase by Uchida Kouichi on the left, and Urushi tea containers, and tooled tray by Shingo Tsukuda.
A Mira box / jewelry box.
Nakashima belongs in our showroom.
The most beautiful wood boxes and trays by Tsukuda Shingo.
The tori arch of the Conoid Bench.
A special vase by Japanese potter Uchida Kouichi resting on the edge of the bench.
Hand tooled wooden trays by Tsukuda Shingo.
Peeking into the rarely photographed back half of our showroom.
Tea Ceremony bowls and trays made by Masanobu Ando.
A unique collection of Calligraphy tools made by Masanobu Ando for the exhibition. Mira Nakashima was nice enough to lend us her Calligraphy brushes for the exhibition display.
One of our favourite collections in the exhibition, the desk, the Captain’s chair and the table lamp are spectacular. Hovering above is a silver glazed cross by Masanobu Ando. Ando-san doesn’t have a connection to the cross, but he saw many on a trip to Europe and thought they would make a nice wall flower vase.
Grass-seated chairs with a wall hanging cabinet.
Ultimo bench with Japanese indigo fabric.
Minguren end table with vase by Uchida Kouichi.
Black copper glazed lidded statues by Uchida Kouichi.
Hand chiseled black urushi coated tableware by famous wood craftsman Ryuji Mitani.
A collection of hammered silver works by Mami and Takejiro Hasegawa.
The Opening reception with Mira Nakashima in her summer Yukata.
A collection of woodworkers (including our architect Peter Tan) nerding out ;)
The two Johns – John Baker & Jon Yarnall (Mira’s husband, woodworker and head of the Nakashima chair department).
A big thank you to:
Fielding Estate Winery – your wine was highly complimented all evening. Thank you for helping make our evening a special success.
Sali Tabacchi – we adore your innovative program design!
Mira and Jon Yarnall, Maria and Maya for coming to Toronto to be a part of this historic event.
NAKASHIMA: A Retrospective
Nakashima
July 24, 7-10pm
Mira Nakashima and family in attendance.
2959 Dundas Street West
Mjölk is honored to present the ?rst Canadian retrospective of works by legendary architect and craftsman George Nakashima, and his daughter, architect, designer and head of the Nakashima Studio, Mira Nakashima. We are proud to showcase a large collection of iconic works by George Nakashima as well as new works from Mira Nakashima’s Keisho (continuation) collection. Mira Nakashima, along with her daughter Maria, and granddaughter Maya will be special guests in attendance.
Exhibition runs July 24th to August 30th.
Please note that the store will be closed July 23-24 for the installation of the exhibition. If you are looking to pick up something from our regular collection, please give us a call/email and we can accommodate your request!
The Nakashima furniture collection will be complemented by a curated collection of art by some of Japan’s most famous contemporary artisans. This group of artists include potters Masanobu Ando and Koichi Uchida, wood artisans Ryuji Mitani and Shingo Tsukuda, and metal artists Takejiro and Mami Hasegawa.
The group of artisans will provide a living context to the Nakashima collection and offer visitors an exclusive opportunity to see and purchase works by artists who seldom show work outside of their native Japan. We believe this group of artists capture the spirit of the Nakashima’s work and carry on the mission of providing beautiful well-crafted items that go beyond their basic function and provide something beautiful that enriches the soul.
Tomii Takashi exhibition: June 26, 2013
We were so thrilled to host the first North American solo exhibition for Japanese wood artisan Tomii Takashi. Thank you so much for everyone who came out to the opening reception, and for the people that came to visit us the following days who weren’t available for opening night!
There are still plenty of amazing pieces still available and on display at Mjolk, so please drop by in person to see the work before it’s gone. For our supportive international customers, please hold tight as we will be adding the works to the website soon. If there is anything in particular you wanted to inquire about, don’t hesitate in dropping us a line.
Above: Wall vase (sold out)
Window decal by Sali Tabacchi.
Turned bowl with natural urushi lacquer-ware coating.
An incredible solid walnut salad bowl!
Wooden coffee mug with natural urushi coating.
right: chestnut serving tray
A hand chiseled oak tray with porcelain tea cup and saucers by Renaud Sauvé.
Chestnut canoe bowls.
A collection of serving trays on our black library shelving.
A hand carved chestnut bowl with black urushi salad servers.
A chestnut tray with specially made white-urushi plum blossom and clover dishes.
A fantastic collection of wooden cutlery.
Cherry soup spoons.
Japanese lacquer-ware sake cups.
Elodie received the nicest gift from Tomii-san. This kid officially has an amazing chair collection at 15 months old, thanks to this gift and the Børge Mogensen Shell Chair given to her by Thomas Graversen of Fredericia. This chair is especially novel for her since she can sit and get up easily from it, though because she is used to climbing onto chairs, she’s had to practice a bit. Last night she kept practicing backing into it. Too adorable.
