The Award of Distinction is conferred annually by The Furniture Society

The Furniture Society

Founded in 1996, The Furniture Society is a membership based, tax-exempt nonprofit 501 3 corporation. Its mission is to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence and fostering understanding of this art....

 http://www.furnituresociety.org/ (est. 1996) upon one or more living individuals who are recognized as having had a profound impact on the field of Studio Furniture

Studio Furniture

Studio Furniture is a subfield of Studio Craft centered around one-of-a-kind or limited production furniture objects designed and built by craftspeople. The work is made in a craftsperson's studio setting as opposed to being made in a high volume factory...

. The honorees exemplify lives devoted to study, work, and craft, as well as the education of others in the field.

2001

The first Awards were presented in 2001, at the annual Furniture Society conference held that year in Tempe, Arizona. Five craftsmen were honored simultaneously in the first presentation, in order to make up for time lost in planning and funding the awards and to insure that these five iconic figures in furniture making and education were properly recognized in their lifetimes. One of the initial honorees, Tage Frid, was unable to attend the ceremony due to health issues and died several months later. At the time of this writing (October 2009), three of the other initial honorees—Art Carpenter, Sam Maloof and James Krenov—have also passed on.

Although the Award of Distinction has most often been presented to furniture makers and educators, anyone who has made significant contributions to the field of studio furniture can be considered. In 2003, for example, one of the honorees was furniture historian and curator Jonathan Fairbanks.

Honorees

• presented alphabetically within the year they were honored.

2001

Arthur Espenet Carpenter (1920 - 2006)

Wendell Castle

Wendell Castle

Wendell Castle is an American furniture artist and a leading figure in American craft. He is often credited with being the father of the art furniture movement....

 (1932 - )

Tage Frid

Tage Frid

-Further reading:* Hank Gilpin, "Professor Frid," Fine Woodworking magazine 146 , pp. 80-85.* John Kelsey, "Tage Frid: A Talk with the Old Master," Fine Woodworking magazine 52 , pp. 66-67....

 (1915 - 2004)

James Krenov

James Krenov

thumb|A Krenov-style wooden smoothing plane.James Krenov was a woodworker and studio furnituremaker.- Biography :...

 (1920 - 2009)

Sam Maloof

Sam Maloof

Sam Maloof was a furniture designer and woodworker. He was born in Chino, California, USA, to parents who emigrated to the United States from Lebanon...

 (1916 - 2009)

2002

John Makepeace

John Makepeace

John Makepeace OBE, , is a British furniture designer and maker. He bought Parnham House, Dorset in 1976 and founded the Parnham Trust and the School for Craftsmen in Wood to provide integrated courses in design, making and management for aspiring furniture-makers, alongside but...

 (1939 - )

Jere Osgood

Jere Osgood

Jere Osgood is a leading studio furniture maker and noted teacher of furniture and woodworking. He taught for many years in the Program in Artisanry at the Boston University....

 (1936 - )

Alan Peters

Alan Peters

Alan Peters OBE was a British furniture designer maker and one of the very few direct links with the Arts and Crafts Movement, having apprenticed to Edward Barnsley. He set up his own workshop in the Sixties...

 (1933 - 2009)

2003

Jonathan Leo Fairbanks

Jonathan Leo Fairbanks

Jonathan Leo Fairbanks is an American artist and expert of American arts and antiques. Fairbanks created the American decorative arts and sculpture department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and served as the department’s Curator from 1970-1999.Fairbanks is the son of the American sculptor,...

 (1933 - )

William Keyser (1936 - )

2004

Garry Knox Bennett

Garry Knox Bennett

Garry Knox Bennett is an American woodworker, furniture maker, metalworker and artist, known for his whimsical, inventive and unconventional uses of materials and designs in his work...

 (1934 - )

2005

Judy Kensley McKie (1944 - )

2006

Tommy Simpson (1939 - )

2007

Michael Fortune (1951 - )

2008

Wendy Maruyama (1952 - )

Walker Weed (19?? - )

2009

Vladimir Kagan

Vladimir Kagan

Vladimir Kagan, , furniture designer. Emigrated to the United States in 1938. Graduated from the School of Industrial Art in 1946, where he was an architecture major. Studied architecture at Columbia University. Opened his first shop in New York in 1949...

(1927 - )