Art + Furniture: Conversations with Designers, Makers, and Advocates

A magnificently illustrated oral history of an important movement in American art and design. Published to coincide with an exhibition at the New York School of Interior Design, opening September 2026 In the 1970s, as the strictures of modernism dissolved and seemingly every creative field opened itself to restless experimentation, artists and designers began to feel that in furniture, too, everything was possible. The next quarter century saw an amazing flourishing of furniture as art. Creators like Wendell Castle, Wendy Maruyama, Thomas Hucker, Roseanne Somerson, James Hong, Terence, Main, and Howard Meister saw their pieces avidly collected by the public as well as leading museums. This handsome volume, perhaps the most extensive ever published on the subject, tells the story of the Furniture Movement in its protagonists' own words, illustrated with vibrant photography of their key works. It gathers fascinating, in-depth interviews not only with the preeminent furniture artists but also with the curators and gallerists who nurtured and promoted their work. A valuable introduction traces the history of the movement and places it in a broader cultural context. Art + Furniture will be an essential addition to any bookshelf of art and design. AUTHORS: Donald Albrecht is an independent curator and author on design based in New York. Thomas Mellins is an exhibition curator, architectural historian, and author. Jonathan Adler is an American potter, interior decorator, and author. SELLING POINTS: . A splendidly illustrated oral history of the remarkable flourishing of furniture as art-or studio furniture-in the late twentieth century, centered in New York . Features interviews with the top creators-such as Wendell Castle, Wendy Maruyama, Thomas Hucker, Roseanne Somerson, and Howard Meister-as well as the gallerists and curators who fostered their work . Editor Dennis Miller was himself an influential New York furniture gallerist during this period. . An introduction by noted design historian and curator Donald Albrecht places the studio furniture movement in a broader cultural context.