Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 37
Occupation: Designer and founder of May Furniture.
Instagram: @mayfurniture
Hometown: Indianapolis.
Studio location: Brooklyn.
Describe what you make: Luxury furniture, lighting, and interior surfaces with elements of architecture and fine art.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Maykume, a material and technique I’ve invented and honed over the past 15 years. Maykume is created by various methods of wood layering and pigmentations to create a stone-esque surface. With our design influences in Brutalist and Modern Architecture, the material is a symbiotic element to bring the forms to life.
Describe the problem your work solves: Populating spaces that lack furniture.
Describe the project you are working on now: Small-batch apparel. Clothing, shoes, and accessories.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: James Collection, a slow-fashion collection of made-to-order clothing, shoes, and accessories. We’re launching a soft brushed canvas unisex duster jacket at our showroom.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Fog machine, black coffee, and vibes (vibraphone).
What you do when you’re not working: I rarely have times when I’m not working. When I can, I like to visit museums like Neue Galerie or The Met. Also hiking upstate and skeet shooting.
Sources of creative envy: Carlo Scarpa, Tadao Ando, Peter Zumthor, Isamu Noguchi, Louis Kahn, Constantin Brâncuși, Rick Owens, Alexander McQueen, Yohji Yamamoto, and more!
The distraction you want to eliminate: Email, social media, texts, all things electronic device related.
Concrete or marble? Concrete that looks like marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse. Or WWII concrete bunker.
Remember or forget? Remember to remember..
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Balance.
Portrait photography by Rachel Ann Martin
