Michael Fortune

Michael Fortune is one of Canada’s most respected and creative contemporary furniture masters. His work has been exhibited around the world and is installed in six Canadian embassies, but he primarily designs and builds “highly resolved,” one-of-a-kind furniture for private residences across North America. Michael employs traditional woodworking and metal-working techniques, in combination with innovative bending processes, adapted from the aerospace and boatbuilding trades. He was the first woodworker to receive the juried Prix Saidye Bronfman, Canada’s highest award in the crafts. In a career spanning nearly four decades, Michael has taught at some of the most prestigious schools and craft centers across the continent, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Stretching conventional boundaries, he has consulted for GreenWood and several other organizations in support of sustainable development projects in Honduras, Mexico, Trinidad, Tobago and Guyana.