Artisan Design Collectible Furniture in the Digital Age

Judith Gura

This definitive overview showcases the very best limited-edition studio furniture that blurs the distinctions between art, craft, and design.

Artisan craft is quickly evolving to combine handwork with machine technology, providing unlimited possibilities for customization. By enabling designers to construct one-o furniture pieces for galleries, exhibitions, and clients, this synthesis of art, design, and technology has created a wealth of collectible pieces.

This complete overview of contemporary studio furniture celebrates the achievements of an international selection of designers producing works of artistic expression that sit as comfortably in museums as they do in domestic settings. Featuring more than 100 designers across disciplines, the heavily illustrated volume includes Thomas Barger, Campana Brothers, Jenna Goldberg, Wendell Castle, Wendy Maruyama, and many more. The images also showcase the homes and studios of makers and collectors, showing how these objects create highly unique and personal environments.

Judith Gura made a hugely important contribution to publications on design over a career spanning several decades and this is her final book. Organized by object type and maker, Artisan Design is essential reading for all design connoisseurs, collectors, and anyone interested in bespoke furniture design.

Reviews

A spectacular guidebook to artisan furniture… Gura skillfully highlights the changes that the craft has seen through decades as she traces the different movements, how they influenced each other, and the evolution of furniture as technologies changed and new techniques were introduced. Design enthusiasts will want this on their coffee tables.

— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Contributors

Judith Gura

Author

Judith Gura was a design historian and author whose books include A History of Interior Design (as coauthor), Design After Modernism, Sourcebook of Scandinavian Furniture, and Postmodern Design Complete. She served on the faculty of the New York School of Interior Design, taught at Pratt Institute and FIT, and lectured frequently about contemporary design and furnishings. She was a contributing editor to Art+Auction, curated exhibitions at the New York School of Interior Design, and worked on exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum and the Whitney Museum.