Displaying items by tag: paul evans

Few individuals have had as profound an effect on American furniture design as Paul Evans (1931-1987). A leading figure in the midcentury American studio furniture movement, Evans consistently pushed boundaries with his innovative approaches to metalsmithing and furniture-making. His transcendent works, which defied what everyday objects looked like and how they were made, continue to reveal the fascinating crosscurrents between sculpture and design.

Evans began working with metal in the early 1950s -- first at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Craftsmen (SAC) in Rochester, New York, where he studied under the influential American silversmiths and designers John (Jack) Prip and Lawrence Copeland, and later at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

During the early twentieth-century, mass-production dominated how products were manufactured in the United States. Automated factories churned out huge amounts of standardized products, including everything from automobiles to furniture. In response to this widespread conformity, many American designers began creating works grounded in historic traditions, favoring the handcrafted over the machine-made, the unique over the commonplace.

The Delaware Valley and Pennsylvania’s bucolic Bucks County became centers for the production of these thoughtfully-made works. In the 1940s, the Japanese-American woodworker George Nakashima settled in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he established a studio and a reputation as a leading member of the first generation of American Studio furnituremakers. Nakashima was joined by a swathe of iconic craftsmen, including Phillip Lloyd Powell, Paul Evans, and Robert Whitley, all of whom produced custom-designed functional furniture that blurred the lines between craft, sculpture, and design.

 The Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is currently hosting “Paul Evans: Crossing Boundaries and Crafting Modernism,” the first comprehensive survey of the designer’s work. Paul Evans (1931-1987), a leading figure in the midcentury American studio furniture movement, used metal to create stunning sculptural pieces that defied what everyday objects looked like and how they were made.

“Crossing Boundaries and Crafting Modernism” features 68 works spanning Evans’ varied career. Evans, who studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, a leading institution of American contemporary design, began working with metal in the 1950s. During this time, Evans shared a studio with fellow furniture designer Phillip Lloyd Powell in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The pair often collaborated on pieces that melded Powell’s wood prowess and Evans’ metalworking skills. A number of objects from this period are included in the exhibition.