New York, shainatabak.com
Woodworkers in Brooklyn — especially those who graduated from RISD — are a dime a dozen these days, but almost no one is approaching the craft with the kind of obsessive, experimental bent of Shaina Tabak. Mixing old-school artistry (marquetry, inlay) with digital milling techniques, Tabak’s works are immediately appealing in their look and feel but also dizzying, as you stare at them a bit longer, wondering how exactly they came to be and why she makes it look so easy. In one, a CNC-milled strip of wood takes on the appearance of a flattened plaid carpet runner; in another, a coffee table resembles a terracotta sponge but is in fact made from gouged Sapele wood (and draped with a carved wood fish carcass for good measure). Tabak recently wrapped up a solo exhibition at Superhouse gallery that catapulted her onto everyone’s watch list — and landed her firmly on this list. 

What is American design to you, and what excites you about it?

I’m drawn to makers who digest the world around them through craft and form, more like a sculptor than anything. The main reason I chose to study furniture design in undergrad was the realization that people were using the furniture form to rebel against established ideals of craft, interior hierarchies, and conceptual approaches to function. The American design or object making that I’m interested in embodies this type of spirit and approach.

What are your plans and highlights for the upcoming year?

I will be building on my sculpture practice and exploring my attachment to utility. After a year of laser focus on the body of work from my solo show in September, I’m beginning to intentionally explore and research again, externally and internally, while building on the ideas and questions that my last body of work sparked. I will be teaching CNC workshops at Pratt for the first time. I’m looking forward to everything I will learn in the process of teaching. I’ve gone to The Met every weekend since my show closed, so a lot more of that in the new year too.

What inspires or informs your work in general? 

I’m interested in flattening, readjusting perspectives, material associations. Even though my work is heavily informed by technology, I look for inspiration from ancient and historical techniques. Lately I’ve been going back to the intarsia inlaid walls of the Ducal Palace study, a small room in The Met. Scenes are depicted from floor to ceiling in the linear perspective, creating illusions of depth throughout the space.