“Walking Box”
Jan Jacque

Art, like nature, is hardly ever straight. It is often apt to be warped and wavy, twisted, irregular and fragmented. Artists, who appropriate their ideas from many places including nature, often end up creating work with sensuous curves and spiraling movement.

Some of The Guild’s most popular pieces display the influence of nature’s curves. Jan Jacque’s “Walking Box” has a life of its own, incorporating natural elements into her clay creation. These curves can’t be manufactured; they simply must be created by hand!

If you want a life filled with curves as well as straight lines, seek out hand-made pieces. They dance around our rooms, and make us smile with joy.

“Bamboo Stool”
David Ebner

You may have noticed…studio furniture is hot! Original designs by contemporary artists can be seen everywhere from museum exhibitions to design magazines to high-visibility auctions.

The result is that prices are going up and up. I noticed this fact recently at the SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art) show in New York. For example, David Ebner, whose work we have represented here at The Guild for many years, had work exhibited by Moderne Gallery. David’s beautiful tables and benches were selling in the five figures. How I wish I had purchased something from him years ago, when his work was more affordable!

I am thrilled that talented furniture makers are getting the attention (and prices) they deserve. Luckily for me, there are many younger artists just entering the field, creating amazing pieces that fit within our homes and budgets.

“Between”
Gilbert Riou

I’ve always been obsessed with interiors, and the world we build inside of our homes. I really believe that we shape this interior world, and thereafter it shapes us.

The art we live with has many shapes and sizes and forms, from the abstract painting on the wall, to the sensuous bracelet on the wrist, to the well-formed teacup on the table. The teacup, such an everyday object, reminds us of how central original artwork can be in our lives as we hold it and appreciate its beauty.

The magic of the talented artist is to create an object that transcends its own ordinariness and becomes something far more profound.

Do you have a favorite ordinary object, made by an artist, that adds beauty and joy to your life?