KINO GUERIN
Kino Guerin hails from a family of artisans—his mother a weaver and his father a woodworker—instilling in him an inherent appreciation for craft and natural materials. Established in 1995 in Quebec, Canada, his studio creates contemporary furniture with laminated bent wood veneers shaped with intricate bends, loops
and curves. Using responsibly harvested wood, his designs honor the imperfections found in nature and the personality of the material.
HELEN O’CONNELL
Practicing the ancient art of stone carving, Irish sculptor Helen O’Connell often works with Kilkenny limestone, a material formed over thousands of years and layered with compressed fossils. “I am inexplicitly drawn to this medium and keep returning to it again and again, ever captivated by its unique properties.” Beannacht, shown here, is part of an ongoing series, “Vessels.” The symbolic bowl form adorned with circles references ancient Celtic stone carvings and ceremonial vessels. Represented in the U.S. by Rhyme Studio.
FURTHUR DESIGN
Raised in Greenwich, artist William Couig now works in New York City. Drawn to the fluidity and physicality of glassblowing, he has been designing and fabricating work for the past 20 years. His decorative accessories, functional glassware and lighting are created in his Brooklyn studio. Couig’s Groove series Orb pendant light fixture can be made in a variety of colors—blue, amber, gray and green—with a bubbled or clear finish.
TOM FAULKNER
British designer Tom Faulkner has been crafting furniture and accessories for more than 25 years. The pieces are made by hand in his Wiltshire, U.K. workshop with the help of skilled welders, finishers, painters and cabinet makers. He is known for his sculptural forms and exquisite materials. A recent series, Lily,
includes tables and ottomans in amorphous shapes. The tables feature a slender metal stem topped with Venetian glass, marble or metal. “Lily is one of my favorite designs,” says Faulkner. “It was a departure from our typical designs because, until then, all of our most distinctive silhouettes were best seen
from the side, but Lily was to be seen from above.”
BLACK CREEK DESIGNS
Thomas Throop of Black Creek Designs has been practicing woodworking for more than 30 years. His passion began as child apprenticing with his uncle, a boat builder and antique restorer. He describes wood as “a material of great character, depth and warmth.” At his studio in New Canaan, he designs and builds one-of-akind furniture, like the Wharf Road sideboard pictured here. “Wood intrigues me. I find it deep, rich and full of character,” says Throop. “At times it is easily malleable; and other times it can be hard and unforgiving.”
O&G STUDIO
Jonathan Glatt, O&G’s Creative Director and CEO, crafts handbuilt Windsor furniture, honoring traditional American designs and Old World techniques. “We look to the past for inspiration and reinvent the classics for contemporary living,” says Glatt. The studio’s portfolio includes seating, tables, lighting, decorative accents and hardware built by a skilled team in O&G’s Rhode Island Factory.
PIEGATTO
“Our vision is to breathe life into spaces with art that seamlessly blends utility and beauty, transforming each environment into a realm where nature’s elegance feels timeless and impeccably complete,” says Piegatto designer Alejandro Estrada. Based in Guatemala, the design brand produces sculptural furniture and lighting. Over the years, through constant trial and error, they have perfected their craft. Today, they execute their designs employing CNC (Computer Numberic Control) technology. This digital fabrication allows for greater precision with less waste.
DUMAE
Dumae creator Kym Gold is recognized as the cofounder of fashion brand True Religion, but she discovered her love of pottery after taking a class gifted to her by her son. Today, Gold designs all the sustainably made ceramics—tabletop, décor, lighting and candles—in her company’s downtown Los Angeles studio.
SAMUEL AGUIRRE
A former business development professional, Samuel Aguirre started working in paper mâché with his son and quickly went from a “hobbyist” to a full-time artisan, returning to school for a MFA in Furniture Design at RSID. “My path toward furniture and craft does not feel like a passion in the traditional sense. It feels more like a matter of fact,” notes Aguirre. “In hindsight, perhaps I never had much say in the matter.” Creating sculptural furniture and three dimensional objects with paper and natural materials, Aguirre uses resources that are easily compostable or recycled at end of use.
ABNER HENRY
Marrying Amish craftsmanship with a contemporary aesthetic, Abner Henry pushes the envelope of furniture design. Cutting-edge collections with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and interior designer Sasha Bikoff exhibit the artisty and skill of the company. “We sought with each piece to do something that had never been done before, and we learned that this kind of experimentation requires a lot of grace” says Abner Henry founder and CEO Ernie Hershberger. The furniture is handcrafted in the Ohio factory and can be customized to order.
CAROLINE LIZARRAGA
“I have always had my hands in some kind of arts,” says Caroline Lizarraga. “When I finally discovered decorative painting, I knew I had to abandon all other arts so I could focus on that. It was like falling in love.” The San Francisco decorative artist recently debuted a collection of wallpaper for Parete at Paris Deco Off, and says, “My main objective for the wallpaper was to create almost impossible designs on the wall. They are all so complex that painting them on walls is nearly costprohibitive.” Fringe Benefits, show here, depicts the artist’s take on macrame.
JODI RABINOWITZ
Collage artist Jodi Rabinowitz spends her days cutting, arranging and pasting paper in her Weston attic studio. Creating art out of the ordinary, she says, “no paper is off limits,” including materials like newspaper, tree bark, grass, banana leaves, cardboard, magazines, candy wrappers and amusement park tickets. Creating a personalized story, each piece is selected for tone and texture, hand cut and intuitively placed. “Life is Colorful,” shown here, is comprised of hundreds of squares cut from magazines, sorted by color and paired with Benjamin Moore paint chips. For a bit of whimsy, Rabinowitz added a hidden “wild card pattern” to each block.
PASCALE GIRARDIN
Based in Montreal, Canada, atelier Pascale Girardin is an art and design studio specializing in the creation of ceramics. The team believes working with clay requires the artist to be fully present, “to feel it, in order to understand its essence.” The reciprocity with the medium produces art that is at once spontaneous and intentional. The studio consists of more than 10 collaborators including ceramists, sculptors, architectural technicians, graphic and product designers. Art objects include sculptural pieces, functional tableware, vases, stools and lighting. Pascale Girardin’s sculptural installations can be found in commercial interiors throughout the world.