Noddy 2.1
Walnut, veneer, lamp hardware / 2018 30" × 27" × 6"Table or desk lamp. One downward-facing spot. The lamp swivels on the base, and the neck/head raises and lowers. 350 lumens from 3.5 watts.

- About
Paul Tanaka is a self-taught designer-maker working and living in Ames, Iowa. After thirty-two years of practicing law he retired in 2016 to expand his skills in designing and crafting furniture.
Until recently, he worked out of garage and basement shops. In 2020, he opened a shop attached to his home where he works daily.
Paul’s design sensibility derives from family and history. He grew up in Denver, in a home where the dominant aesthetic was mid-century modern. His father was trained as an architect and urban planner. Though ties to Japanese culture were attenuated because of the family’s internment during the second world war, and resettlement in Colorado, the Japanese aesthetic was ever-present. During his attendance in school in the Pacific Northwest during the late ‘70s, the region’s craft furniture culture fostered the hope that one day he could turn his focus to designing and building furniture.
Mid-century modern principles of rationality, utility and function remain core values. However, in the past several years recent interests in carving, bending and lighting design have resulted in greater freedom of form and a migration to a broader sense of function.
- Region
- Ames, IA
- Media
- Wood, lighting
- Professional Status
- Designer-maker
Portfolio
Walnut Chair
Walnut, cherry, Danish cord, kasuri fabric upholstery / 2022 28 × 20 × 20Custom cantilevered chair for reading

Water Table II-Detail
Detail of lit recess and lower stretcher

Jarrah and Cherry Desk Lamp
Jarrah, cherry, spunbonded polyolefin, lamp hardware / 2019 9.5" × 4" × 13"A jarrah base holds a bent-coopered cherry leaf with LED tapes diffused with resin-coated spunbonded polyolefin. 200 lumens from 6 watts.
Tenjin Tansu-Detail
2018Detail-Tenjin Tansu.

Water Table I (Lotus Table)
Honduras mahogany, walnut / 2010 17" × 21" × 21"Low table with carved top and insert
Tenjin Tansu
Cherry, walnut, hophornbeam and colored resin inlays / 2018 29" × 48" × 20"Japanese style cabinet of cherry on a separate base of walnut. The interior illuminates with LED tape switched to the sliding doors.
Noddy 2.1
Walnut, veneer, lamp hardware / 2018 30" × 27" × 6"Table or desk lamp. One downward-facing spot. The lamp swivels on the base, and the neck/head raises and lowers. 350 lumens from 3.5 watts.
Corner Arc
Cherry, ash, acrylic, theatrical gel, lamp hardware / 2019 28" × 7" × 5"A sconce for mounting in a corner comprised of three bent-coopered forms on an acrylic base. 450 lumens from 13 watts.

Nightstand
Maple, curly maple, spalted maple and walnut / 2019 33" × 20" × 18"Bed-side stand with side-to-side through drawer
TTL-2 Tessellated Crescent ("Tess Cresc")
Cherry, spunbonded polyolefin, lamp hardware / 2018 24" × 7" × 22.5"Table lamp for accent lighting. An origami tessellation is attached to a
bent wooden truss and lit with LED tape. 400 lumens from 11 watts.

Water Table I (Lotus Table)-Detail
Detail of carving and insert

Water Table II
Cherry, walnut, shell of sea urchin and LED hardware / 2020 34" × 27" × 25"Table with a recess displaying a sea urchin. The sea urchin, the recess, as well as the void below are lit.