Art + Furniture: Designers, Makers, and Advocates

Friday, September 25, 2026 to Friday, April 2, 2027

New York School of Interior Design

Curated by Thomas Mellins and Donald Albrecht, the exhibition Art + Furniture: Designers, Makers, and Advocates is presented in the New York School of Interior Design Gallery from September 25, 2026, through April 2, 2027. The show explores the origins, contributions, and legacies of the art and studio furniture movements from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. Intentionally blurring the distinction between fine art and useful objects, as well as between design and craft, the featured artists challenged traditional ways of exhibiting and selling work, giving rise to a new generation of gallerists and entrepreneurs.

These artists and entrepreneurs embraced a bold concept of what furniture could be. At the same time, they responded to the city they called home. New York in the late 1970s was a metropolis in crisis. Yet with adversity came a positive edge: Avant-garde art, music, fashion, and design flourished. Amid challenges to modernist “good taste,” many artists and craftspeople flocked to New York’s formerly industrial SoHo neighborhood, attracted to its atmosphere of artistic freedom, as well as its commodious and comparatively affordable live/work spaces.

The exhibition showcases furniture, related objects, and photographs of twenty artists: Rafael Barrios, Wendell Castle, Jim Cole, Laura Johnson Drake, David N. Ebner, Dan Friedman, James Hong, NYSID faculty member Thomas Hucker, Elizabeth Browning Jackson, Dakota Jackson, Donald Judd, Alex Locadia, Tom Loeser, Terence Main and Main + Main, Wendy Maruyama, Howard Meister, Forrest Myers, Michele Oka Doner, Gaetano Pesce, and Richard Snyder.

The exhibition has been designed by Studio Joseph with production and publication by Poleshuk Design.

The exhibition is accompanied by the forthcoming book Art + Furniture: An Oral History of the American Furniture Movement, published by Abbeville Press. Created and edited by architect Dennis Miller, a proponent of the movement through his influential eponymous furniture, lighting, and design showroom, with an introduction by the curators and a foreword by Jonathan Adler. An outgrowth of an oral history project at the New York School of Interior Design Archives conceived by Miller, the book chronicles the American furniture movement through the words of its protagonists, complemented by contemporary and archival photography. Miller brings together in-depth interviews not only with leading furniture artists, but also with the curators and gallerists who championed, nurtured, and helped advance their work. The book is available for purchase at NYSID.

Public programs including guided tours with the curators, panel discussions with the designers and their collectors, and other events, will take place throughout the exhibition.

About the Curators

Thomas Mellins has written extensively about New York City’s architecture and urbanism. He has also curated exhibitions for such cultural institutions as the New York Public Library and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Donald Albrecht creates exhibitions, books, and essays, often for public institutions, that explore a wide range of topics, from broad overviews of cultural trends to in-depth profiles of visual and performing artists.

About the Design and Production Teams

Studio Joseph is an architecture and exhibition design practice focusing on projects that foster community gathering and education. They work with museums, libraries, universities, and other civic institutions looking deeply into the realm of art, culture, and history.

Poleshuck Design Inc. is a multidisciplinary design studio that creates physical and digital environments for theater, television, events, and exhibitions. Based in New York City, their work can be found around the globe.

Corporate Partnerships 

NYSID appreciates the support of corporate sponsors: Benjamin Moore, Cadogan Tate, and Kravet Inc.