Wood Design

United States / Japan
Furniture maker, artist and educator Wendy Maruyama has been making innovative work for 52 years. While her early work combined ideologies of feminism and traditional craft objects, her recent work moves beyond the boundaries of traditional studio craft and into the realm of social practice.
Wendy Maruyama now works full time in her studio, which is now located at Bread & Salt, an experimental center for the arts, located in the Barrio in San Diego.
Website:www.wendymaruyama.com

Japan
As a furniture maker, the most significant thing I do is give the maximum respect for the life of the trees I use. My pieces are a union of modern day ergonomics, engineering, traditional Japanese woodworking, and Zen practices. My chairs are based on the practice of Zazen sitting, which is the experience of the harmony of body and soul that we seek to achieve in our daily life. A method of sitting where your head and pelvis are in perfect alignment, reducing the stress you encounter throughout the day.
I have developed a method of making personalized chairs which entails fitting the chair to the contours of the pelvis and spine thus promoting correct posture through Zazen positioning.
Website:www.tak-yoshino.jp

Canada
Michael Fortune has designed and made furniture since 1975 for private residences across North America, typically making numerous pieces for each home. He also provides design and manufacturing expertise for international development agencies that encourage sustainable economic growth. He received the prestigious Bronfman Award in 1993 and was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2000, received a Queens Jubilee Award in 2002 and was given the 2007 Award of Distinction from the Furniture Society based in North Carolina. He has been a Trustee of the Furniture Society and a board member of WoodLinks USA as well serving on the boards many other arts organizations. His work is included in several collections, The Canadian Museum of Civilization, Claridge Collection, The Royal Ontario Museum and numerous Canadian embassies around the world.
Michael graduated from the furniture design program at Sheridan College near Toronto in 1974.
Website:michaelfortune.com

United States
Alicia Dietz is a furniture maker and artist with a focus on wood and concrete.
After a 10-year career as an officer and Blackhawk Helicopter Maintenance Test Pilot in the U.S. Army, Alicia received two Woodworking and Furniture Making Certificates from Vermont Woodworking School. She interned with Wendy Maruyama before receiving an MFA in Wood from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She runs a one-woman custom furniture business in Richmond, Virginia.
Website: www.aliciadietzstudios.com

United States
Annie Evelyn is a furniture maker in search of joy, human connection, and self-discovery. Her work has been featured on the cover of American Craft Magazine and published in Agata Toromanoff’s book Impossible Design. She was a resident artist at the Penland School of Craft, awarded The John D. Mineck Furniture Fellowship, and was a finalist for the Burke Prize for Contemporary Craft.
Evelyn heads the Wood Area in the Craft and Material Studies Program at VCU, is the Development Director for Crafting the Future, an organization she co-founded in 2019, and is on the board of the Furniture Society.
Website: annieevelyn.com

United States
Erin Hutton is an art advisor, curator and founder of Erin Hutton Projects. For more than twenty years, she has immersed herself in the art world as an artist, educator, gallery director, curator, film production assistant, and designer. In 2015, Hutton became the Director of Exhibitions and Special Projects at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art (ICA at MECA) and has been credited with bringing a heightened level of sophistication to the ICA, creating extensive community outreach and establishing rigorous engagement with students, staff and faculty at MECA. There, she coordinated twenty-seven exhibitions presenting hundreds of artists’ works. That year, she created the public installation, SWARM, for the Press Hotel in Portland, Maine and became the art director and curator of the Press Hotel’s permanent gallery, where Erin has focused on highlighting the work of several Maine-based contemporary artists. Hutton established herself as an independent art consultant and curator in 2016. Under this identity, Hutton builds contemporary art collections for private residences, corporate headquarters, hotels, and exhibitions. Erin is currently the Assistant Director at Speedwell Projects and is the co-founder of Studio 24b, a design and fabrication studio, with her partner, Matt Hutton. Together, they create custom woodworking & furniture for public and private clients across the country.
Website: erinhuttonprojects.com

United States
Matt Hutton founded the Woodworking & Furniture Design program at the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine, where he is currently Professor & Chair of the program. Hutton owns and operates Studio 24b, a design and fabrication studio that produces custom woodworking & furniture for private and corporate spaces around the country.

United States
Miki Iwasaki is an artist and designer raised in Southern California and currently living in San Diego. His curiosity in making and building things eventually led him to pursue a career in architecture. Throughout his academic and early professional years, Miki remained dedicated to his own art and design projects. Miki is also the founder of Sunset Projects, LLC a design and fabrication collective in San Diego, California. Miki’s interests and skills constantly expand in the field of architecture, art and design as he pushes himself to explore new materials, methods and projects.
Website: www.mikiiwasaki.com

United States
Shae Bishop creates sculptural garments and tiles, interweaving history and personal experience. Bishop grew up in Kentucky and received a BFA in Ceramics and Art History at the Kansas City Art Institute. His artist residencies include Kohler Arts/Industry and the Archie Bray Foundation, as well as programs in Austria, Hungary, Turkey, and Indonesia. Bishop has exhibited work at the Penland Gallery, the Kohler Arts Center, Visions West Gallery, and elsewhere. He co-founded Treats Studios in North Carolina and is now based in Virginia.

Website: www.shaebishop.com

United States
Tai Lake , (70). Has spent a lifetime in the study of design, construction, and woodworking. Home is the Big Island of Hawaii and he and his family are involved with reforestation, urban forestry and collaborative community adventures . He is a founder of the Hawaii Artist Collaboration event and his mainstay is building original design furniture from island grown hardwoods with his sons.
Website: tailake.net

United States

* 1974 - 1976
Studied privately with 5th generation cabinet maker Lenord Hilgner

* 1976 - 1980
Studied with Jere Osgood at Boston University Received certificate of Mastery
Studied Japanese tea ceremony Urasanke chapter Allen Palmer sensei

* 1989 - 1990
Received Fulbright to study design at domus academy Milan Italy
Received master’s degree

Moved to New York city in 1990, I set up private studio. Still here! Also teaching furniture design part time at New York School of Interior Design.

United States / Japan
Yuri Kobayashi is a New England based Sculptor and furniture maker. Born and trained woodworking in Japan, then she moved to the U.S. for her MFA degree, studied under Wendy Maruyama. Employing her discipline in traditional woodworking, she strives to capture her wonder and emotional nature in abstract format. Yuri exhibits nationally and has been awarded residencies, grants, and fellowships. While maintaining her studio practice, she serves as a part-time faculty member in the Department of Furniture Design at Rhode Island School.
Website: www.yurikobayashi.studio