Film On Legendary New Hope Woodworker To Show Wednesday

NEW HOPE, PA — Filmmaker Elijah Lee Reeder grew up hearing the Nakashima name. He lived a few miles from the legendary woodworker’s property and shop — and then, when his house flooded twice in his 20s, he learned about home improvement and began to make his own tables.

These things and more informed his desire to profile the artist and designer Mira Nakashima in film.

“I really respect her sensibility for design, philosophy, and architecture so much,” he explained.

The 10-minute documentary that resulted from their conversations, “Mira Nakashima,” will show Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the New Hope Film Festival.

Nakashima is the daughter of George Nakashima, who started the local woodworking business George Nakashima Woodworkers and made it into the artistic household name it is now. The Nakashimas were interned in Idaho, along with other Japanese American families, when Mira was a child; her father’s talent and ambition got them sponsorship to leave, and eventually led to the establishment of the family business in New Hope.

“Mira’s life growing up really hauntingly mirrors all of the hate crimes [against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] and systemic issues going on right now,” Reeder said. It was important to him that this context inform the nuances through which an audience views Nakashima’s life, and her artistry.

He interviewed her on the Nakashima Woodworkers property, in the spring, among the dogwoods and cherry blossoms they had imported from Japan decades ago.

“There is some sort of communication between human beings and wood,” she told Reeder.

This “spirituality” about trees and wood has always informed the family’s work; Reeder said she described how people in the shop are silently drawn to a certain piece when they enter.

Reeder can relate to artistry being a family affair; his father was a photographer, who used to bring him around to jobs and show him the ropes, even buying him his first really great camera lens as an extra special Christmas gift.

For someone like Nakashima, whose family trade was so high profile, sometimes the bond between her work and her father’s meant her accomplishments were overshadowed. Reeder wanted to highlight her defining role in shaping Nakashima Woodworkers.

“She’s paved her own path despite having a father who was a living legend and was definitely a bit overbearing at times,” Reeder said. “She still learned so much from those experiences and integrated a lot of core concepts from him, but in the process overcame a ton of adversity, transformed her entire family business and revived it, and became a legend herself.”

Now, Reeder said, Nakashima is unsure who might take over the business from her. However, the legacy will continue even if leadership no longer remains in the family.

Reeder and Nakashima’s views of artistry and communication align, and will crystallize in Wednesday’s feature at the film festival.

“It’s important that we all learn to accommodate and see the inherent value in one another,” Reeder said, speaking to his filmmaking philosophy. He added about his time spent with Nakashima, “That respect and appreciation only grew the more that I got to know her and work with her.”

The film will show at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the New Hope Arts Center at 2 Stockton Avenue. To learn more about Nakashima Woodworkers, visit them online.

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