2026年4月19日 / 美国东部时间上午9:31 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
和米拉·中岛一同走过她的木料堆场，就像在探访家人。她在一块硕大美观的木料前停下脚步说道：“它能卖出去真的很棒。我认识那位客户，也知道它会去到一个好人家。但这些木板在这儿放了太久了，我多少还是对它们有感情的。”
记者莫·罗卡与乔治·中岛木器工坊的米拉·中岛。 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
中岛在这里长大，就在宾夕法尼亚州纽霍普的乔治·中岛木器工坊园区里。她说，她的父亲——已故的乔治·中岛——亲手建起了他们的家和家族企业。“他雇不起建筑工人，”她说道。
家具设计师乔治·中岛（1905-1990）。 乔治·中岛木器工坊
乔治·中岛被认为是20世纪家具设计界的巨匠，也是美国手工艺运动的领军人物。“父亲说过：‘你设计出好的作品，就该让它成为永恒的设计。不该因为时代更迭、风格或时尚变迁就随意改动，’”米拉说道。
1989年《星期日早间新闻》采访乔治时，他曾告诉我们：“我对优质木料的看法是，应该让它展现出全部的潜力与美感。”
他的设计以拥抱自然、接纳其所有无可避免的不完美而闻名。
当被问及究竟是木料还是木工占据主导时，米拉答道：“这是一场协作。过程中会出现很多细微的变化。有时会有木节，有时会有木孔，有时会有裂缝，需要用蝴蝶形金属片加固。所以你得顺势而为。”
中岛设计的桌椅。 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
而正如这些作品蜿蜒曲折的边缘一般，中岛木器工坊的发展之路也并非一帆风顺。
乔治1905年出生于太平洋西北地区，当时已是冉冉升起的建筑新星。他曾在麻省理工学院求学，也跟随全球多位大师学习。但1942年，他和家人被送往爱达荷州的收容营，这是二战期间12万日裔美国人被迫搬迁计划的一部分。米拉当时只有六周大。
在收容营期间，中岛自学手工制作，为年轻的家庭打造急需的家具。“他只能用手头能找到的任何材料，”米拉说，“都是 leftover 建筑废料和包装箱木板。”
获释后，中岛一家搬到了宾夕法尼亚州。“我们没有地方住，所以在军队的帐篷里住了好几个月，”米拉回忆道。
从这片林地出发，中岛一家建起了如今已成为国家历史地标建筑的园区。
米拉从哈佛大学毕业后组建了自己的家庭，1970年开始正式在父亲手下工作，直到1990年父亲去世。
“我们当时非常担心这家企业撑不下去，”米拉说。
她当时害怕吗？“嗯，是的，那段日子很艰难。我不知道算不算害怕，但很多客户因为我父亲已经无法在家具上签名，就取消了订单。”
但她坚持了下来，生意蒸蒸日上，不仅延续父亲标志性的设计，也推出了自己的原创作品。
她曾担心自己的作品会被拿来和父亲的作品比较吗？“如果总纠结这个，你根本就不会去做这件事！”她笑道。
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制作流程至今仍和乔治经营工坊时如出一辙，就连木料也大多取自不受欢迎的黑 walnut 树。“父亲常说自己是捡破烂的，因为当时没人想要这些树，”米拉说，“但他能从中打造出漂亮的东西。这对他而言也是一种精神寄托，因为他说自己在赋予树木第二次生命。”
这些树木需要时间才能迎来新生——一件普通定制作品大约需要一年时间。“习惯了即时满足的人不会来中岛工坊，或者他们得换一种思维方式，”米拉笑着说。
中岛的作品并非人人都能接受，价格从数千美元起步，上不封顶。毕竟，这是纯手工制作，从最初的绘图、打磨到最终由米拉亲笔签名，全程倾注心血。
米拉为数不多的员工之一是她的孙子俊（Toshi）。他说为祖母工作有不少福利：“你会给我茶、曲奇和派！”他笑道，“我很幸运，一直能身处精美作品、优质家具之中，身边都是聪明能干的优秀工匠。”
俊，中岛木器工坊第四代家具匠人。 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
80年前由中岛家族始祖播下的这棵大树，如今又长出了新的枝桠。
米拉说：“每当我走进木料仓库，都感觉他还在这里。他还在看着我们。每当我们遇到行政类的问题，我们都会想：‘乔治会怎么做？他会不会喜欢这个方案？’他依然和我们同在！”
观看我们1989年为乔治·中岛制作的专题报道：
档案视频：《星期日早间新闻》制作的木工乔治·中岛（YouTube）
更多相关信息：
- 乔治·中岛木器工坊，宾夕法尼亚州纽霍普
- 中岛和平基金会
- 乔治·中岛木器工坊园区（美国国家公园管理局）
_本文由阿莫尔·马特雷制作。编辑：乔治·波兹德雷克。**
Crafting a legacy out of wood
April 19, 2026 / 9:31 AM EDT / CBS News
Walking with Mira Nakashima through her woodpile is like visiting with family. Stopping by one large, beautiful piece of timber, she said, “It’s really nice that it sold. And I know the client. And I know it’ll have a good home. But these boards have been here for so long, and I sort of get attached to them.”
Correspondent Mo Rocca with Mira Nakashima, of George Nakashima Woodworkers. CBS News
Nakashima grew up here, on the grounds of her company, Nakashima Woodworkers, in New Hope Pennsylvania. She said her father, the late George Nakashima, built their home, and the family business, with his own two hands. “He couldn’t afford to hire builders,” she said.
Furniture maker George Nakashima (1905-1990). George Nakashima Woodworkers
George Nakashima is considered a giant of 20th century furniture design, and a leader of the American craft movement. “Dad said, ‘You create a good design, it should be a design forever. You shouldn’t have to change it just because it’s a different year or a different style or a different fashion that’s going on at the time,’” said Mira.
When “Sunday Morning” visited with George in 1989, he told us, “My feeling about a fine piece of timber is that it should be realized to its fullest possibility and beauty.”
His designs were renowned for their embrace of nature in all its glorious imperfection.
Asked whether it is the wood or the woodworker who takes the lead, Mira replied, “It’s a collaboration. There are little nuances that happen. Sometimes there’s knots, and sometimes there’s knotholes, and sometimes there’s cracks that need butterflies. So, you go with the flow.”
A Nakashima table and chairs. CBS News
And like the meandering edges of these pieces, the path for Nakashima Woodworkers hasn’t been in a straight line.
Born in 1905 in the Pacific Northwest, George was a rising star in architecture. He studied at MIT, and with luminaries around the world. But in 1942, he and his family were sent to an internment camp in Idaho, as part of the forced relocation of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. Mira was six weeks old at the time.
While in the camp, Nakashima retrained himself to handcraft much-needed furniture for his young family. “He had to use whatever material was at hand,” Mira said. “And it was leftover construction material, it was packing crates.”
After their release, the Nakashimas moved to Pennsylvania. “We didn’t have a place to live, so we lived in this army tent for several months,” Mira recalled.
Out of the woods, the Nakashimas built a complex, now a national historic landmark.
After Mira graduated from Harvard and started a family of her own, in 1970 she began working here fulltime under her father, right up until his death in 1990.
“We were very concerned that the business would not survive,” Mira said.
Was she scared? “Well, yeah, it was difficult. I don’t know if it was scary. But a lot of people, because my father was no longer around to put his signature on the furniture, canceled their orders.”
But she pressed on, and her business flourished, not only producing from her father’s iconic designs, but also designing her own pieces.
Was she worried they would be compared to her father’s? “Well, if you worry about it, you wouldn’t do it!” she laughed.
CBS News
The process is still similar to when George was running things, right down to the wood, mostly from undesirable walnut trees. “Dad used to call himself a rag picker because, you know, people didn’t want their trees,” said Mira. “And then he would make something beautiful out of them. But it was also a spiritual thing for him, because he said he’s giving trees a second life.”
Those trees take time to find their second life – around a year for an average custom piece. “Anybody who is used to instant gratification doesn’t come to Nakashima’s, or they have to develop a different way of thinking,” Mira laughed.
Nakashima pieces are not for everyone, with prices starting in the thousands and going way up from there. After all, this is hand-crafted, from the initial drawing, to the finishing, and a final signature by Mira herself.
One of Mira’s handful of employees is her grandson, Toshi. He says working for his grandmother has perks: “You give me tea and cookies and pie!” he laughed. “I’m very lucky to, you know, always have been surrounded with beautiful work and beautiful furniture, and intelligent and smart and good craftsmen.”
Toshi, a fourth-generation furniture maker at Nakashima Woodworkers. CBS News
Another branch to fill out the tree planted by the Nakashima family patriarch 80 years ago.
Mira said, “Whenever I go into one of the wood storages, I feel like he’s still here. He’s still watching us. And whenever we have, you know, administrative kind of problems, we think, ‘What would George do? Would he like this or not?’ He’s still with us!”
Watch our 1989 profile of George Nakashima:
From the archives: Woodworker George Nakashima by CBS Sunday Morning on YouTube
For more info:
- George Nakashima Woodworkers, New Hope, Pa.
- Nakashima Foundation for Peace
- George Nakashima Woodworker Complex (National Park Service)
Story produced by Amol Mhatre. Editor: George Pozderec.