Sam Ladwig was a profes­sional musi­cian, video producer, hi-tech project manager, graphic designer and even an ice sculp­tor before receiv­ing an MFA in furni­ture design from the Herron School of Art and Design. Currently teach­ing and making work in Okla­homa, he contin­ues to be focused on the design and fabri­ca­tion of afford­able furni­ture. Learn more about Sam at samlad​wig​.com

Julie Morringello is and inde­pen­dent designer and maker. In 2011, she founded Modernmaine,a company focused on the creation of contem­po­rary artist-made light­ing. Julie’s work blends her knowl­edge of func­tional design and manu­fac­tur­ing processes with a love of mate­ri­als, self-expres­­sion and expert craft­man­ship. Every­thing at Modern­maine is created in her studio on Deer Isle and neces­sary compo­nents are sourced as close to home as possi­ble. Learn more about Julie at modern​maine​.com

Blaise Gaston earned a BFA from TheSchool for Amer­i­can Crafts in Rochester NY in 1975, study­ing under Bill Keyser, Jere Osgood, Jim Krenov, Jon Brooks, Ian Kirby, andothers. He went on to create his own busi­ness in archi­tec­tural­wood­work­ing, furni­ture making, and histor­i­cal restora­tion. He iscur­rently making art furni­ture and unique cabi­netry at his home inEarlysville, VA. Learn more about Blaise at blaisegas​ton​.com

Aspen Golann is a 17th & 18th century furni­ture maker whose work explores gender and power through the manip­u­la­tion of classic Amer­i­can furni­ture forms. She holds a degree in Fine Furni­ture from The North Bennet Street School in Boston, MA and is currently the Wood Shop Coor­di­na­tor of The Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC. Learn more at her website: aspen​golann​.com.

Matthew Gram­ling designs and fabri­cates furni­ture in his Milwau­kee, WI work­shop using locally sourced, sustain­able woods. Gram­ling is also one half of the design collab­o­ra­tion Persis­tent Object. Matthew was part of the local commit­tee for FS19: Ground­work and orga­nized the exhi­bi­tion crawl. Learn more at his websites: matthew​gram​ling​wood​works​.com and persis​tent​-object​.com

Heide Martin is a Maine-based designer-maker and our featured member this month! Coming from land­scape archi­tec­ture and urban plan­ning in the Pacific North­west, Heide creates furni­ture and house­wares with simple, high quality mate­ri­als and a Shaker-esque dedi­ca­tion to honest func­tion­al­ity. Learn more on her website: heide​martin​.com

Rachel David works primar­ily in steel and non ferrous metals. — ​“I think of furni­ture with a wide inter­pre­tive allowance, some­times I call my work concep­tual furni­ture or art furni­ture. I have a multi faceted prac­tice but the angles divid­ing them are not crisp, furni­ture bleeds into sculp­ture and vica-versa up and upcom­ing archi­tec­tural elements grow seats and tables.”