Grace Jeffers

Grace Jeffers lives in a material world. An artist, designer, writer and historian, Grace is a thought leader in American art, architecture, and design. She challenges us to reconsider long-held presumptions about materials. By taking a step back she shows us bigger stories and teaches us how to see differently. Jeffers is known to challenge our preconceived thinking, urging us to re-evaluate concepts such as ‘Natural’ and ‘Artificial’, ‘Real’ and ‘Fake’. In her lecture Global Forestry she reveals the complexity and importance of understanding timber sourcing, the laws, and our responsibility to forests around the world. For the past 14 years, she has been the creative force behind the award-winning Wilsonart Student Chair Competition, the longest running sponsored student design competition in the US. A writer and commentator on design and materials, her articles have appeared in journals such as O, at Home, and Interiors & Sources.

http://gracejeffers.com/

On Tour with Naturalness: Design in the Anthropocene

On Tour with Naturalness: Design in the Anthropocene

I feel so fortunate with the support of Wilsonart, AIA and, of course, NKBA, in bringing my latest research to the A&D sector. Naturalness: Design in the Anthropocene is a complete update of my previous CEU — Manmade Natural. So what is so important about...
What’s Next — Biophilia: Feel-Good Design

What’s Next — Biophilia: Feel-Good Design

Almost everything we call design is supposed to look good, but only certain design actually makes us feel good. Biophilia is defined as the love of living things and nature; but biophilic design mimics aspects of the natural world that contribute to human health and...
Upcycled Materials

Upcycled Materials

  ESTHETIC ACTIVISM Recycling her company’s own goods Eileen Fischer buys back old clothes from clients and reinvents them into a collage of scraps. This act twice gifts the world with beauty, first as a garment and then as an artwork. This is aesthetic activism where...
London: Materials Mecca

London: Materials Mecca

London is the epicenter of design that is exploring materiality. I wanted to learn more about emerging trends and approaches to research so I flew to London to check out the scene. I met up with Instagrammer Karin Skogund, a materials librarian at Materialities and we...
Finding Design Inspiration Off the Trade Show Floor

Finding Design Inspiration Off the Trade Show Floor

The best thing at NeoCon wasn’t actually at NeoCon; it was at the Art Institute of Chicago. The chair is one of the holy grails of design. British Designer Max Lamb has created more than 400 of them using a variety of materials, both precious and inexpensive, natural...