George Katsutoshi Nakashima was an American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker who was one of the leading innovators of 20th century furniture design and a father of the American craft movement. In 1983, he accepted the Order of the Sacred Treasure, an honor bestowed by the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government.
Tage Frid was a Danish-born woodworker, educator and author who influenced the development of the studio furniture movement in the United States. His design work was often in the Danish-modern style, best known for his three legged stool and his publications.
Po Shun Leong is an English artist, former architect, sculptor and furniture maker. He was born at Northampton, England and educated at the Quaker Leighton Park School in Berkshire, and then at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, in London, and has resided in Southern California since 1981. He is also known since the late 1980s for his highly intricate one-of-a-kind wood boxes, some now in museum collections. The Landscape box, a constantly evolving series since 1983 is architectural in character and built up of many different woods in their natural colors. They are inspired from ancient or legendary civilizations. He maintains a studio in the garden of his residence in the City of Winnetka in the San Fernando Valley, north west of Los Angeles. He continues to make elaborate wood objects and is developing a line of simple, sculpturally-inspired furniture.
Wendell Castle was an American sculptor and furniture maker and an important figure in late 20th century American craft. He has been referred to as the "father of the art furniture movement" and included in the "Big 4" of modern woodworking with Wharton Esherick, George Nakashima, and Sam Maloof.
John Rais is a designer, blacksmith and sculptor known for his architectural work, vessels, and furniture. Rais primarily works in steel as well as titanium, bronze, copper, stainless steel, and other materials. He is well known for his one-of-a-kind firescreens. Rais was born and raised in Burlington, Massachusetts, the youngest of seven children. Rais was introduced to blacksmithing in a sculpture class at the age of 18. He went to college at the Massachusetts College of Art, graduating in 1995, BFA Sculpture. After working at an architectural ironworks and a living history museum in Massachusetts, he decided to go to graduate school. Rais received his masters of fine arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1998, after which he worked at Peters Valley Craft Center as a department head. Rais was a department head of blacksmithing at Peter's Valley from 1998 to 2001. He has run his own design and metalsmithing studio since 1998. He now resides in Philadelphia, PA.
Thomas J. Duffy is a designer/craftsman whose present work is the conceptualization and creation of curved doors using lasers. Duffy has also crafted one-of-a-kind cabinets, chairs, and other furniture. For many years, Duffy also made St. Lawrence River rowing skiffs. One of his furniture works is in the permanent collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He has exhibited at numerous galleries and other venues. The New York Times described him as “One of this country’s leading cabinet and chair makers..."
Evert Sodergren was a leading studio furniture maker based in Seattle. He taught for many years in the School of Art at the University of Washington.
Jere Osgood is an American studio furniture maker, and teacher of furniture and woodworking. He taught for many years in the Boston University Program in Artisanry.
The Furniture Society, founded in 1996, is a membership-based, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation working to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence and fostering understanding of this art. The Society, based in Asheville, North Carolina, has an international membership comprising furniture makers, designers, educators, museum and gallery professionals, scholars, journalists, collectors, students and the interested public.
Rosanne Somerson is an American-born woodworker, furniture designer/maker, educator, and former President of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). An artist connected with the early years of the Studio Furniture, her work and career have been influential to the field.
Phillip Jacobson is a Seattle architect and university professor.
Sonja Blomdahl is an American blown glass artist.
Northwest Woodworkers Gallery in downtown Seattle, is the oldest and largest woodworking cooperative in the United States. Started in 1980 in the Pioneer Square neighborhood by a small group of studio furniture craftsmen, the gallery has grown and fostered the resurgence of the Northwest Crafts movement. The co-op includes notable master woodworkers such as Evert Sodergren and Stewart Wurtz. Northwest Woodworkers gallery moved to the 2111 1st Ave in the Belltown neighborhood in 2012. The gallery currently represents more than 200 woodworkers, including 27 members.
Morgan Colt was an American metalworker, furniture craftsman, impressionist painter, and architect. He helped found the New Hope, Bucks County, Pennsylvania colony of painters—the leading landscape school in the United States during the early 20th–century—but was better known as a craftsman than a painter, specializing in hand–wrought iron garden furniture and fire screens. Many of his paintings were accidentally destroyed after his death.
Scott Simons, FAIA is an American architect and planner based in Portland, Maine. He is a principal partner and founder of Scott Simons Architects.
Norm Sartorius is an American woodworker who carves fine art spoons in many styles including natural, biomorphic, abstract, symbolic, ethnic, and ceremonial. His works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and other public and private collections. He is a frequent participant in woodworking and craft shows in America, and won the Award of Excellence in Wood at the 2015 American Craft Council show in Baltimore and the 2015 Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, DC. Since 2008, he has co-directed a grant-funded research project on the life, work, and legacy of American woodworker Emil Milan.
Wendy Maruyama is an artist, furniture maker, and educator from California. She was born in La Junta, Colorado.
Judy Kensley McKie is an American artist, furniture designer, and furniture maker. She has been making her signature style of furniture with carved and embellished animal and plant motifs since 1977. She is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ashley Eriksmoen is a California-born Australia-based furniture maker, woodworker, artist, and educator.
Mira Nakashima-Yarnall is an architect and furniture maker. She is the daughter of George Nakashima and is now the President and Creative Director for George Nakashima, Woodworker.
