American furniture designer George Nakashima made his home in New Hope, Pennsylvania. "Nakashima embraced construction as a kind of improvisation, noting that 'the house was built without plans, and the detailing was developed from the material on hand or that which was available,'" Gotkin writes. "It is the unlikely marriage between American vernacular influences and Japanese sensibilities, along with a willingness to embrace the engineered forms of the modern age, that lends Nakashima's work its beauty and vitality." Photo 7 of 10 in Artists' Handmade Houses by Miyoko Ohtake

Artists' Handmade Houses

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American furniture designer George Nakashima made his home in New Hope, Pennsylvania. "Nakashima embraced construction as a kind of improvisation, noting that 'the house was built without plans, and the detailing was developed from the material on hand or that which was available,'" Gotkin writes. "It is the unlikely marriage between American vernacular influences and Japanese sensibilities, along with a willingness to embrace the engineered forms of the modern age, that lends Nakashima's work its beauty and vitality."