This is a list of notable people whose primary occupation is furniture design.

A

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, s ...

(1898-1976) * Eero Aarnio (born 1932) *

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

(1728-1792) *

Thomas Affleck Thomas Affleck (1740–1795) was an 18th-century American cabinetmaker, who specialized in furniture in the Philadelphia Chippendale style. Biography He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland to a devout Quaker family. There is no documentation of wher ...

(1745-1795) * Franco Albini (1905-1977) * Davis Allen (1916-1999) * Ron Arad (born 1951) * Ini Archibong (born 1983) * David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 1961) * Gae Aulenti (1927-2012) *

Jean Avisse Jean Avisse (1723 – 1796) produced chairs, sofas, chaises and similar furniture in 18th century France. His chairs are elaborately decorated with natural images such as shells, flowers, and leaves. He stamped his work with the signature IA ...

(1723-1796)

B

Fred Baier Fred Baier is an avant garde United Kingdom, British furniture designer maker working since the 1970s when he graduated from the Royal College of Art and taught at what is now Faculty of Arts (University of Brighton). Some of his original work d ...

(born 1949) * Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby (born 1969) * Milo Baughman (1923-2003) *

Mario Bellini Mario Bellini (born February 1, 1935 in Milan) is an Italian architect, critic, and designer. He received a degree in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1959 and began working as an architect in the early 1960s. Like many other Italian ...

(born 1935) * Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) *

Lina Bo Bardi Lina Bo Bardi, born Achillina Bo (5 December 1914 – 20 March 1992), was an Italian-born Brazilian modernist architect. A prolific architect and designer, she devoted her working life, most of it spent in Brazil, to promoting the social and cult ...

(1914-1992) * Cini Boeri (1924-2020) * André Charles Boulle (1642-1732) *

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (born 1971 and 1976) are brothers noted for their design work, which has been featured in publications and museums globally — and spans a wide range from tables and chairs to tableware, rugs, textile walls, office furn ...

(born 1971 and 1976) *

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most ...

(1902-1981) *

Jeremy Broun Jeremy Broun is a British furniture designer maker, writer, film maker and musician. His Caterpillar Rocking Chair in 1984 was described as, 'visually stunning, a good combination of colour, structure and practicality... and has the advantage of ...

(born 2000) * Busk + Hertzog

C

* Louise Campbell (born 1970) *

Achille Castiglioni Achille Castiglioni (; 16 February 1918 – 2 December 2002) was an Italian architect and designer of furniture, lighting, radiograms and other objects. As a professor of design, he advised his students "If you are not curious, forget it. ...

(1918-2002) * Wendell Castle (1932-2018) *

Don Chadwick Donald "Don" T. Chadwick (born 1936) is an American industrial designer specializing in office seating. __NOTOC__ Early life He was born in Los Angeles and developed an interest in furniture making from his grandfather, a cabinetmaker. He studied ...

(born 1936) * William Chambers (1723-1796) * Eliphalet Chapin (1741-1807) *

Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) was a cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled ''The Gentleman and Cab ...

(1718-1779) * Thomas Chippendale, the younger (1749-1822) *

Antonio Citterio Antonio Citterio (born 1950, in Meda) is an Italian architect, furniture designer and industrial designer who lives and works in Milan. He acquired a degree in architecture from Politecnico di Milano in 1972 and subsequently started working as a ...

(born 1950) * John Cobb (1715-1778) * Kenneth Cobonpue (born 1968) *

Muriel Coleman Muriel Evelyn Coleman (1917–2003) was an American designer who was a member of the Pacific Design Group based in California. She designed furniture through the material scarcity of post-World War II, and used rebar, metal rods and strips in he ...

(1917-2003) * Joe Cesare Colombo (1930-1971) * Henry Copland (1728-1754) *

Charles Cressent Charles Cressent (1685–1768) was a French furniture-maker, sculptor and fondeur-ciseleur of the régence style. As the second son of François Cressent, sculpteur du roi, and grandson of Charles Cressent, a furniture-maker of Amiens, who also ...

(1685-1768)

D

Niels Diffrient Niels Diffrient (6 September 1928 – 8 June 2013) was an American industrial designer. Diffrient focused mainly on ergonomic seating, and his most well known designs are the Freedom and Liberty chairs, manufactured by Humanscale. Biography ...

(1928-2013) *

Nanna Ditzel Nanna Ditzel (October 6, 1923 in Copenhagen - June 17, 2005 in Copenhagen) was a Danish furniture designer. She studied at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen with painter Victor Isbrand, ...

(1923-2005) * Tom Dixon (born 1959)

E

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

(1912-1988) and

Charles Eames Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his spouse Ray Kaiser Eames, he was responsible for groundbreaking contributions in the field of a ...

(1907-1978) * Charles Eastlake (1836-1906) *

Olav Eldøy Olav Eldøy (born 1 November 1948) is a Norwegian furniture designer. Eldøy was born in 1948 on Stord, Norway. He was educated the National College of Art & Design in Bergen 1973. Some of his award winning products are: the chair Peel, the cha ...

(born 1948) * Paul Evans (1931-1987)

F

* Pierre François Léonard Fontaine (1762-1853) *

Paul T. Frankl Paul T. Frankl (October 14, 1886 – March 21, 1958), an Art Deco furniture designer and maker, architect, painter and writer from Vienna, Austria, was the son of a wealthy real estate speculator. Biography After Frankl completed his ar ...

(1887-1958) * Naoto Fukasawa (born 1956)

G

Peter Ghyczy Peter Ghyczy (1 December 1940 – 10 March 2022) was a German designer of Hungarian origin, who lived in the Netherlands. Biography Peter Ghyczy, child of a widespread aristocratic family, grew up in Buda, a fine district of Budapest. After t ...

(born 1940) * Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) *

Ernest Gimson Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputat ...

(1864-1919) * Eileen Gray (1878-1976) * Hector Guimard (1867-1942)

H

Christopher Guy Harrison Christopher Guy Harrison (3 September 1960 – 19 August 2020) was a British luxury furniture designer. He was the founder and head designer of the international furnishings brand. Originally known for a wide range of decorative mirrors, the Chr ...

(1960-2020) * Ambrose Heal (1872-1959) * George Hepplewhite (c. 1727-1786) *

René Herbst René Herbst (March 18 , 1891 – September 29 , 1982, in Paris) was a French furniture designer and architect, best remembered for his advocacy of the industrialisation of furniture as a form of modern art Modern art includes artistic wo ...

(1891–1982) * James Hilton (born 1973) * Matthew Hilton (born 1957) *

Jacques Hitier Jacques Hitier (28 March 1917 – 5 March 1999) was a French interior architect and designer. He was director of the École Boulle, a college of fine arts and crafts and applied arts in Paris, from 1972 to 1982. After the Second War World, he sp ...

(1917-1999) *

Josef Hoffman Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrians, Austrian-Sudeten Germans, Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architect ...

(1870-1956) * Thomas Hope (1769-1831) * Luke Hughes (born 1957) *

Richard Hutten Richard G. J. Hutten (born 30 March 1967, in Zwollerkerspel) is a Dutch industrial designer, art director, and artist who is active in furniture design, product design, interior design, and exhibition design. Biography Hutten graduating from t ...

(born 1967)

J

* Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) * Dakota Jackson (born 1949) *

Charles Hollis Jones Charles Hollis Jones (born 1945) is an American artist and furniture designer. He is known for his use of acrylic and lucite. Life Jones was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1945. He moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of 16 and founded CHJ ...

(born 1945) *

Hella Jongerius Hella Jongerius (born 30 May 1963 in De Meern, Utrecht) is a Dutch industrial designer. Biography Jongerius was born in De Meern, a village to the west of Utrecht in the Netherlands in 1963. From 1988 to 1993, she studied design at the Des ...

(born 1963) * Finn Juhl (1912-1989)

K

* Vladimir Kagan (1927-2016) * William Kent (1685-1748) * Poul Kjærholm (1929-1980) * Florence Knoll (1917-2019) * Silas Kopf (born 1949) * James Krenov (1920-2009) * Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991)

L

* Max Lamb (born 1980) * Charles-Honoré Lannuier (1779-1819) * Paul László (1900-1993) *

Charles Limbert Charles P. Limbert (1854-1923) was an American furniture designer. He is considered one of the most successful furniture leaders in the history of Grand Rapids and the Arts and Crafts movement in America. The furniture that bears his name is high ...

(1854-1923) *

François Linke François Linke (1855–1946) was a leading Parisian ''ébéniste'' of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life Linke was born on 17 June 1855 in the small Bohemian village of Deutsch Pankraz, now known as Jítrava in the Czech Republi ...

(1855-1946) *

David Linley David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 3 November 1961), styled as Viscount Linley until 2017 and known professionally as David Linley, is an English furniture maker, a former chairman of the auction house Christie's UK, ...

(born 1961) * Piero Lissoni (born 1956) * Mathias Locke (18th century) * Samuel Loomis (1748-1814) *

Ross Lovegrove Ross Lovegrove (born 1958 in Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh artist and industrial designer. Biography Ross Lovegrove was born in Wales in 1958. He studied at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University), graduating with a F ...

(born 1958) * Fred Lowen (1919-2005)

M

Sal Maccarone Sal Maccarone is an American author, sculptor, designer and kinetic artist. He is best known as a master craftsman, and for his internationally distributed woodworking books such as ''Tune Up Your Tools'', and ''How to Make $40,000 a Year Wo ...

(born 1949) * Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) * Vico Magistretti (1920-2006) *

Terence Main Terence Main is a Contemporary American artist and designer born in 1954. He received his BA from the Herron School of Art and Design in 1976, and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1978. Main is best known for the cast metal and stone s ...

(born 1954) * John Makepeace (born 1939) * Sam Maloof (1916-2009) *

Cecilie Manz Cecilie Manz (born 1972) is a Danish industrial designer. In November 2017, Manz was awarded designer of the year in the Design Awards by Bo bedre, Costume Living, Nordic Living and Boligmagasiet. In September 2014, she won the Danish Crown Princ ...

(born 1972) * Enzo Mari (born 1932) *

Daniel Marot Daniel Marot or Daniel Marot the Elder (1661–1752) was a French-born Dutch architect, furniture designer and engraver at the forefront of the classicizing Late Baroque Louis XIV style. He worked for a long time in England and the Dutch Republic ...

(1661-1752) * Wendy Maruyama (born 1952) *

Bruno Mathson Bruno Mathsson (13 January 190717 August 1988) was a Swedish furniture designer and architect whose ideas aligned with functionalism, modernism, as well as old Swedish crafts tradition. Biography Mathsson was raised in the town of Värnamo in ...

(1907-1988) * Judy Kensley McKie (born 1944) *

Alessandro Mendini Alessandro Mendini (16 August 1931 – 18 February 2019) was an Italian designer and architect. He played an important part in the development of Italian, Postmodern, and Radical design. He also worked, aside from his artistic career, for ''C ...

(1931-2019) * Børge Mogensen (1914-1972) *

Thomas C. Molesworth Thomas C. Molesworth (1890–1977) was an American furniture designer who was a significant figure in the creation of a distinctly Western style of furniture and accessories, using hides, horn and natural wood. Molesworth's style drew from the Art ...

(1890-1977) * Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) *

Jasper Morrison Jasper Morrison (born 1959) is an English product and furniture designer. He is know for the refinement and apparent simplicity of his designs. In a rare interview with the designer, he is quoted as saying: "Objects should never shout". E ...

(born 1959)

N

* George Nakashima (1905-1990) * George Nelson (1908-1986) * Marc Newson (born 1963) *

Nolen Niu Nolen Niu (born 1975) is an American Industrial Designer who received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the Art Center College of Design located in Pasadena, California. His company, Nolen Niu, Inc., provides services including co ...

(born 1975) *

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...

(1904-1988) * Arne Norell (1917-1971) *

Wallace Nutting Wallace Nutting (November 17, 1861 – July 19, 1941) was an American minister, photographer, artist, and antiquarian, who is most famous for his landscape photos of New England. He also was an accomplished author, lecturer, furniture maker, ...

(1861-1941)

O

* Jean Francis Oeben (1721-1763) *

Jonathan Olivares Jonathan Olivares (born 1981) is an American industrial designer and author. Olivares's approach to design has been characterized research-based and incremental. In April 2022 he became Senior Vice-President of Design at the Knoll (company), Knol ...

(born 1981) *

Sergio Orozco Sergio Orozco (born in Popayán, Colombia) is a designer of furniture and lighting. His works are influenced by international experience and worldwide background. He studied violin for many years, then at the age of 18 he moved to the capital, Bo ...

P

* Verner Panton (1926-1998) * Kenneth Peacock (1922-2000) * Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) * Charles Percier (1764-1838) * Alan Peters (1933-2009) * Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854) * Warren Platner (1919-2006) * Ferdinand Plitzner (1678-1724) * Charles Pollock (1930-2013) *

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring ma ...

(1901-1984)

R

* Ernest Race (1913-1964) * Dieter Rams (born 1932) * Karim Rashid (born 1960) * Lilly Reich (1885-1947) * Jean Henri Riesener (1734-1806) * Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) * Jens Risom (1916-2016) *

T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1903–1976) was a British-born architect and furniture designer. Life Harry was born in Widnes, Lancashire (now part of Cheshire), on April 8, 1903 (School admission form and Naturalisation papers) and named Thomas Ha ...

(1905-1976) * David Roentgen (1743-1807) *

André Jacob Roubo André Jacob Roubo (1739–1791) was a French carpenter, cabinetmaker and author. Roubo was born and died in Paris, and was the son and grandson of master cabinetmakers. Roubo wrote several highly influential books on woodworking, an achiev ...

(1739-1791) * Alexander Roux (1813-1886) * David Rowland (1924-2010)

S

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motor ...

(1910-1961) * Kasper Salto (born 1967) * Richard Sapper (1932-2015) * Sergio Savarese (1958-2006) * Timothy Schreiber *

Frans Schrofer Frans Schrofer (born 15 August 1956) is a Dutch furniture designer and industrial designer based in The Hague, Netherlands. He received a technical education in Leiden and then studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven, graduating in 1983 and foundin ...

(born 1956) * George Seddon (1727-1801) *

Maarten van Severen Maarten Van Severen (5 June 1956, Antwerp, Belgium – 21 February 2005, Ghent, Belgium) was a Belgian furniture designer and interior architect. He came from an artistic family: his father was the abstract painter Dan Van Severen while his brot ...

(1956-2005) * Thomas Shearer (18th century) * Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) * Alma Siedhoff-Buscher (1899-1944) *

Bořek Šípek Bořek Šípek (14 June 1949 – 13 February 2016) was a Czech architect and designer. Biography Born in Prague, he was renowned for his individual, unusual, colorful, and rich style. He experimented with unexpected and often opulent shapes. ...

(1949-2016) *

Janice Smith Janice Smith is an American furniture maker and Teacher, educator, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Early life and education Smith took a women's wood shop class in high school and became hooked on woodworking. She attended Virginia Common ...

* Rosanne Somerson (born 1954) * Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) *

Russell Spanner Russell Spanner (1916–1974) was a Canadian designer who contributed to residential furniture designs in the 1950s. Spanner's designs included dining and lounge chairs, tables, and modular storage units. The designs were manufactured at Spann ...

(1916-1974) * Mart Stam (1899-1986) * Philippe Starck (born 1949) *

Gustav Stickley Gustav Stickley (March 9, 1858 – April 15, 1942) was an American furniture manufacturer, design leader, publisher, and a leading voice in the American Arts and Crafts movement. Stickley's design philosophy was a major influence on American ...

(1858-1942) *

Bill Stumpf William Eugene Stumpf (March 1, 1936 – August 30, 2006) was an American furniture designer who helped design the Aeron, Embody and Ergon Ergon may refer to: * Ergon, alien from the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''Arc of Infinity'' * Ergon, concep ...

(1936-2006) *

Sympson Thomas Simpson, or Sympson the Joiner (floruit, fl. 1660s) was a Master-Joiner at the Deptford Dockyard and the Royal Navy, Royal Naval Woolwich Dockyard, Dockyard at Woolwich in London. Samuel Pepys mentions his name several times in his diary. ...

(fl. 1660s)

T

* Michael Thonet (1796-1871) * Matteo Thun (born 1952) * Frederick William Tod (1879-1958) * Johannes Torpe (born 1973) *

David Trubridge David Geoffrey Trubridge is a furniture designer based in Whakatu, New Zealand. Background Trubridge graduated from Newcastle University in England in 1972 with a degree in Naval Architecture (Boat Design). Working as a forester in rural N ...

U

Patricia Urquiola Patricia Urquiola Hidalgo (born 1961 in Oviedo) is a Spanish architect, industrial designer and art director. Biography At age 22, Urquiola left her hometown of Oviedo to attend the Polytechnic University of Milan in architecture. After gradua ...

(born 1961)

V

* Henry van de Velde (1863-1957) * William Vile (c. 1700-1767) * Lella Vignelli (1934-2016) *

Arne Vodder Arne Vodder (16 February 1926 – 27 December 2009) was a Danish furniture designer, a close friend and partner of Finn Juhl who had been his teacher. Biography Arne Vodder was trained by Finn Juhl, who became his friend and business partner. Bef ...

(1926-2009)

W

Katie Walker Katie Walker (April 12, 1969) is a British furniture designer well known for combining simple components in her work. Her designs combine the function of the object with a sculptural interpretation of its structure. She works with craft and volum ...

(born 1969) *

Marcel Wanders Marcel Wanders (2 July 1963) is a Dutch designer, and art director in the Marcel Wanders studio in Amsterdam, who designs architectural, interior and industrial projects. Life Born in Boxtel, Wanders graduated cum laude from the Hogeschool vo ...

(born 1963) * Hans J. Wegner (1914-2007) * Russel Wright (1904-1976)

Y

Tokujin Yoshioka is a Japanese designer and artist. He is active in the fields of design, architecture and contemporary art, and he is internationally acclaimed for his works dealing with light and nature. Many of his works chosen as part of permanent collect ...

(born 1967) * Michael Young (born 1966)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furniture designers * Lists of people by occupation Design-related lists