Craftsmanship is a word that we often associate with European cities and countries marked by their distinct history and legacy. Despite Europe having a history, there’s no doubt that some of the most talented master artisans, artists, designers and art galleries in the world also lie in the USA.

Did you know that the “American Craftsman Style”, also known as “American Arts and Crafts Movement”. This was an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy which began in the last years of the 19th century. The design and art movement remained popular into the 1930s, continuing throughout decorative arts and architectural design, it continued with numerous revitalization projects.

The American Craftsman style is another example of a movement that originated from the British Arts and Crafts movement. The British movement was a way of reacting against the Industrial Revolution‘s depreciation of the individual worker and the resulting degradation of human labor’s dignity.

The American movement was also a reaction against the Victorian over-decorated aesthetic since the Arts and Crafts style’s American arrival coincided with the decline of the Victorian era. It encouraged originality, the simplicity of form, local natural materials, and the visibility of handicraft.

Wendell Castle was a true giant in the world of design. He was always a creative soul until the end, he was even preparing a new art piece when he passed away, at the age of eighty-five.

He was born in Emporia, Kansas, in 1932. In his childhood years, he struggled with dyslexia. At the time, it was extremely painful for him, but in later years he was remarkably open about this experience, sharing it with younger artists. His message was always: a new reality is there, just waiting to be imagined, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

He had a pure creative drive, which would stay with him lifelong. Wendell prevailed over his early obstacles and entered an industrial design program at the University of Kansas. He began his career through sculpture, receiving a Master of Fine Arts in that field in 1961. While he was still studying, Wendell decided to build himself a toolbox rather than spending money on one. His professor wanted to know why he was wasting time making a functional object instead of artwork. Castle replied: why not do both at once?

A decade before the concept of radical design emerged, he began reinventing furniture forms at every level. His earliest craftsmanship works were defined as being sinuous and sculptural. Through traditional joinery, Castle brought to life his art pieces with very peculiar cage-like structures and curved elements, which he carved from gunstocks.

At the initial stage of his career, he also created a lyrical music stand, a calligraphic drawing in space, which is widely recognized as one of the great works of 20th-century design.

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Thanks to his beautiful and innovative craftsmanship masterpieces he was invited to be an instructor in the furniture department at the School for American Craftsmen, Rochester Institute of Technology. Although he left his position there in 1971, he would later return as an Artist in Residence, and remained in Rochester, New York, for the rest of his life.

He then started to dedicate himself to a new process called “stack lamination” craftsmanship. Remembering a Delta Tools pamphlet, he had as a kid, which told how to carve a duck decoy from a set of pre-sawn glued blocks, he realized he could do the same at large scale. This technique freed him to pursue his imagination wherever it led.

He created colossal biomorphic tables, seating forms, twisting spiral staircases, extraordinary pieces that engaged the walls and floor of a room in unconventional ways. While he was focused on furniture, he maintained the instincts and formal references of sculpture, inspired by Henry Moore.

Soon, Wendell began to be showcased in renowned international exhibitions, including the 1964 Milan Triennale and the seminal touring show Objects USA (1969). His innovative contributions in molded plastic furniture, including the adored Molar chairs (1969) were the first significant ones made in America.

His interest in trompe l’oeil originated a series of uncanny still life-based objects, culminating with the Ghost Clock (1985), a beloved icon in the collection of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Later, he began to explore the historic furniture styles from which he had always radically departed. His reinventions of Art Deco and Neoclassicism reflected the contemporary postmodern interest in the past and gave him opportunities to explore narrative themes.

Fun Fact: Friedman Benda began working with Wendell in 2006. Though the artist was ten years past legal retirement age at the time, he accepted the collaboration with his overwhelming energy.

Jonathan Adler was born on August 11, 1966, in New Jersey. He is an American potter, designer, and author who launched his first ceramic collection in 1993 at Barneys New York. Five years later he expanded into home furnishings, opening his first boutique in Soho, Manhattan. Right now has 17 stores and runs a huge design business.

Misha Kahn

Misha Kahn was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1989. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Tel Aviv the following year. In 2008, Misha’s work was included in 20 under 20 at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN.

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Chris Schanck is a Detroit-based designer who embraces contradiction in his work, finding a comfortable place between the discrepancies of dilapidation and assemblage, individual and collective, industrial and handcraft, romanticism and cynicism.

His efforts depart from the mass-produced, instead of reviving ordinary materials by transforming them into unique pieces of uncommon luxury craftsmanship. Schanck is perhaps best known for his “Alufoil” series, in which industrial and discarded materials are sculpted, covered in aluminum foil and then sealed with resin.

Ryan Korban started his career in interior design after graduating from The New School in New York. Without any formal training, he developed his unique aesthetic, characterized by a fusion of luxury, old-world romance, and urban cool.

Evoking several inspirations fluctuating from Monet paintings to Helmut Newton’s photography, he creates enchanting, astonishing spaces that surpass trend to redefine traditional design for a new generation.

His portfolio includes the homes of prominent figures in the worlds of fashion, film, and music. Specializing in retail design with an emphasis on luxury, Korban has completed some of the finest spaces in New York’s retail landscape. His work has been profiled in publications as Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.

Timothy Corrigan is an interior designer with offices in Paris and Los Angeles. His timeless design philosophy combines European elegance with California comfort. He was already recognized by Architectural Digest as “Today’s Tastemaker” and has been named to most of the design world’s best designer lists, including the AD100, Elle Decor A-List, Robb Report’s Top 40, and the Luxe Gold List. Timothy is the only American designer so far honored by the French Heritage Society for his restoration of several national landmarks in France.

His extraordinary work is frequently featured on television and in prestigious publications such as Elle Décor, The New York Times, Town & Country, Veranda, House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Luxe Interiors + Design, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and The Wall Street Journal. Clients include royalty, Hollywood celebrities, and corporate leaders. Timothy has designed successful licensed collections with several partners, including Schumacher, PFM, Royal Limoges, THG-Paris, Fromental, and Samuel & Sons.

Lindsey Adelman lives and creates her art pieces in her hometown of New York City. She is specialized in lighting design since 1996. Founded in 2006, her studio grew into a group of forty with a recent location opening in Los Angeles. Her lighting collections are born from the development of industrial modular systems to capture the ephemeral, fleeting beauty of nature.

For several years, her studio embraced a philanthropic mission supporting the Robin Hood Foundation to fight poverty in New York City. Adelman credits much of the studio’s current success to this desire to make an impact on the world.

Mary McDonald is an award-winning, internationally published Los Angeles-based interior designer. She is one of the stars of Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Decorators” & “Property Envy” series and is consistently ranked as one of House Beautiful’s Top 100 Designers. Her licensed product lines include an acclaimed fabric collection for F. Schumacher & Company, lighting for Robert Abbey, rugs for Patterson, Flynn and Martin, and furniture for Chaddock Home.

Michael Smith is considered one of the most creative and treasured talents in the design industry today. With an international profile of residential, hospitality and commercial clients, Smith’s style is a perfect balance between European classicism and American modernism.

He has a curator’s knowledge and appreciation for the past, nurtured by studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum and extensive work in the antique business. Whether in designing his own collection or in the interiors he creates for his clients, he shows a deep respect for tradition, always viewing it with a contemporary perspective.