The Furniture Society

Background

The Society provides a range of programs including annual conferences, exhibitions, publications, scholarships and awards of excellence.

Annual Conferences

The Society convenes an annual conference, in locations across the United States and Canada, usually in June. Each conference offers keynotes, artists’ presentations, practical demonstrations, theoretical discussions, and business improvement seminars. Past venues have included:

• Purchase, New York (1997)
• San Francisco, California (1998)
• Smithville, Tennessee (1999)
• Toronto, Ontario (2000)
• Tempe, Arizona (2001)
• Madison, Wisconsin (2002)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2003)
• Savannah, Georgia (2004)
• San Diego, California (2005)
• Indianapolis, Indiana (2006)
• Victoria, British Columbia (2007)
• SUNY Purchase (2008)
• Boone, North Carolina (2009)
• Cambridge, Massachusetts (2010)
• Portland, Maine (2012)
• Los Angeles, California (2013)
• Port Townsend, Washington (2014)
• Durham, North Carolina (2015)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2016)
• Kansas City, Missouri (joint conference with the American Association of Woodturners)(2017)
• San Francisco, California (2018)
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2019).

Exhibitions

The Furniture Society has sponsored several major exhibitions of studio furniture. These include:

• Multiplicity: The art of the Furniture Prototype (2008)
• Show Us Your Drawers (2006)
• Curv-iture (2004)
• The Maker's Hand (2004, co-sponsored with The Museum of *Fine Art, Boston)
• Cabinets of Curiosities (2003, co-sponsored with The Wood *Turning Center)
• WilsonArt Invitational (2003, co-sponsored with WilsonArt)
• The Right Stuff (2002)
• The Circle Unbroken (1999)
• Contemporary North American Furniture (1997—invitational)

The Award of Distinction

The Award of Distinction is conferred annually by The Furniture Society upon one or more living individuals who are recognized as having had a profound impact on the field of studio furniture. The honorees exemplify lives devoted to study, work, and craft, as well as the education of others in the field.

The award is presented each year as a major event during the annual conference. Past recipients of the award include:

History

The Awards were first presented in 2001, at the annual Furniture Society conference held that year in Tempe, Arizona. Five craftsmen were honored simultaneously in the first presentation, in order to make up for time lost in planning and funding the awards and to insure that these five iconic figures in furniture making and education were properly recognized in their lifetimes. One of the initial honorees, Tage Frid, was unable to attend the ceremony due to health issues and died several months later. Three of the other initial honorees—Art Carpenter, Sam Maloof and James Krenov are now deceased.

Although the Award of Distinction has most often been presented to furniture makers and educators, anyone who has made significant contributions to the field of studio furniture can be considered. In 2003, for example, one of the honorees was furniture historian and curator Jonathan Fairbanks

Publications

Five biennial journals on Studio Furniture have been published by the Furniture Society: Furniture Studio: The Heart of the Functional Arts, 1999 Furniture Studio: Tradition in Contemporary Furniture, 2001 Furniture Studio: Furniture Makers Exploring Digital Technologies, 2005 Furniture Studio: Focus on Materials, 2006 and Furniture Studio: The Meaning of Craft, 2007 These volumes offer essays on design, fabrication and history as well as a pictorial gallery of the finest work made from the 1990s on. The Society also publishes catalogs to accompany the major exhibitions of furniture that it has initiated or co-sponsored with leading institutions, and a quarterly print newsletter, Furniture Matters. Recent Furniture Society publications also include The Maker's Hand: American Studio Furniture, 1940-1990 (168 pages, illustrated), 2003 from the Museum of Fine Arts Publications, Mind & Hand: Contemporary Studio Furniture (160 pages, illustrated), 2012 and Rooted: Creating a Sense of Place: Contemporary Studio Furniture (160 pages, illustrated), 2015, both from Schiffer Publishing.

References

References

1. Koplos, Janet.. (2010). "Makers : a history of American studio craft". University of North Carolina Press.
2. (10 April 2006). "A Society Dedicated To Furniture". Fine Woodworking Magazine.
3. "Furniture Society has best-attended conference". Woodshop News.
4. "Award of Distinction".
5. (30 October 2009). "Alan Peters Obituary".
6. (29 April 2011). "My Secret Life, John Makepeace, 71".
7. John L. Jacobus. (1 December 2011). "Inside the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild: Contestants Recall the Great General Motors Talent Search". McFarland.
8. "Judy Kensley McKie".
9. (6 November 2006). "Furniture Society presents Award of Distinction to Simpson".
10. Steve Scott. (March 2007). "Canadian studio furniture maker wins Award of Distinction from The Furniture Society for his body of work and contributions to the craft".
11. The Furniture Society. (19 April 2012). "Somerson to Receive Furniture Society Award of Distinction".
12. (September 2017). "Furniture Society honors Pritam & Eames founders".
13. Robert O'Connell. (21 June 2018). "Five Highlights: 2018 Furniture Society Conference".
14. (22 March 2019). "UW-Madison's Loeser to receive 2019 Award of Distinction from the Furniture Society".
15. (6 March 2020). "Kristina Madsen to receive Furniture Society Award of Distinction".
16. (1999). "The heart of the functional arts". Furniture Society.
17. (2001). "Tradition in contemporary furniture". Furniture Society.
18. (2005). "Furniture makers exploring digital technologies : annual journal of the Furniture Society". Furniture Society.
19. "9780967100432: Focus on Materials (Furniture Studio) - AbeBooks: 0967100437".
20. (2007). "The meaning of craft".
21. Cooke, Edward S.. (2003). "The maker's hand : American studio furniture, 1940-1990". MFA Publications, a division of the Museum of Fine Arts.
22. (2012). "Mind & hand : contemporary studio furniture". Schiffer Pub.
23. (2015). "Rooted : creating a sense of place : contemporary studio furniture".