Los Angeles, madebythemorgans.com
At one time best known for a mystical jewelry line called All For The Mountain, Carly Jo Morgan and her husband Matthew joined forces this spring to design and launch an epic line of geometric, otherworldly furniture.

What is American design to you, and what excites you about it?
We’re excited that there are a lot of emerging artists who feel comfortable exploring the space between art and design. It’s a fun and easy place for us to collaborate and one that allows our backgrounds to meet in the middle — Matthew has an MFA from Bard and is a sculptor and video artist, and I don’t have any formal training, though I began designing wallpaper while I was an undergrad and have since worked as a metalsmith, a painter, a graphic designer, and an illustrator of a children’s book called The Sacred Door. Matthew and I always knew that we would work together in some capacity, it was just a question of when things would align. It has also been inspiring to see that there’s a growing respect for craftsmanship, local production, and idiosyncrasy in response to so much mass production.

What are your plans and highlights for the upcoming year?
We’re currently working on a sculptural landscape project. This past year, all of our focus was on creating custom furniture for clients, but we’re realizing we’re also interested in designing whole environments, both interior and exterior. We both always have a lot of projects going on. (Matthew is currently working on an art film and I’m collaborating with some artists on a Surrealist show for kids.) We’re also setting up a ceramic studio.

What inspires your work in general?
Wendell Castle, practical solutions, complex solutions, Buckminster Fuller, Valerio Olgiati’s Villa Alem, hands, mountains, Pedro Friedeberg, pink hues, Terry Riley, Zandra Rhodes, mystical journeys, Surrealist romps through our subconscious, Joseph Campbell, and compassionate people who are trying to help others. When our daughter was born, we found we had little time and low energy, but from the overwhelming new love came lots of inspiration. Only Love is Real is a project to consciously stay inspired and hopefully inspire our daughter by showing her that we’re following our passions, wherever they lead us.