When 19 furniture makers gathered around the table in 1996 to create an organization to inspire its members and to educate the world about their craft, it was impossible to predict the success of their efforts.
This group of self-taught, academically trained, and apprenticed men and women were looking for ways to network in their field. Their goal was to inspire each other in designing and crafting furniture and to shine light on an often under-represented art form whose historical embodiment of art, form and function was often misunderstood.
The Furniture Society (FS) was formed, and the community today has grown to 1,300 members from a dozen countries. Astaff of two full-time, two part-time, and two contract employees provide oversight, expertise, and administrative support to the volunteer board of 15 that governs the organization. The society produces some of the most comprehensive and well represented studio furniture exhibitions and publications and hosts an annual conference best described as a gathering of the studio furniture tribe.
“At the core of the society is a sense of community,” said Bonnie Bishoff, a maker in Rockport, Mass., who has been involved with the organization since its inception. For makers whose work naturally keeps them in the solitude of their studios, the society brings them into a shared place. “We are more connected,” said Bishoff. “We would be in a very different place if we did not have the FS. It has brought the field of studio furniture to life and made it a real community that has supported us as individuals and as artists in very substantial and meaningful ways.”
The vision and programs of the society have not changed in focus but continue to be refined. Conferences, publications and exhibitions are still the center point of education and networking.
“How these programs are developed, whose voices are heard, and the weight of the representation of different styles and their origins offer ongoing debate and are what keeps the whole in motion,” said Bishoff.
“In the beginning one of our main goals was to invite and encourage a diversified representation from the field,” said Dennis FitzGerald, a maker in Pawling, N.Y., who also teaches woodworking at Purchase College, State University of New York. That still holds true. Anyone is welcome to join and become involved in The Furniture Society, from novice to professional makers to collectors and gallery owners.
The society realized early on it could not be everything to all furniture makers. Where some craft associations focus on developing the artist’s technique and skill, The Furniture Society has focused more on the “why” instead of the “how” of studio furniture.
Astrong educational component in part defines the society. Representatives from almost every major design school and program with a furniture component in North America are members. The FS conference is hosted by one of these institutions each year.
“This educational aspect enables us to be more than a networking or technical society,” said Andrew Glasgow, executive director of The Furniture Society since 2000. “The students, the professors and the academic institutions give of their time, their resources and their academic acumen so that we can in turn offer educational programming, critical writing, thoughtful exhibition venues, and create a sense of commonality among a diverse group of makers with varied backgrounds, training and levels of achievement.”
Known as an organization dedicated to a form rather than a material, the society refuses to be defined by any one medium, approach to learning, or method of creating. Camaraderie and community echo throughout the membership with a willingness to offer inspiration and share ideas, whether they come from the most well-known and highly-acclaimed makers or the up-and-coming who have recently found their passion in this field. Everyone has something to offer.
—Beth Carter is development coordinator
for The Furniture Society
