A furniture and design architect debuts his new book

Architect Dennis Miller, who founded DM New York, showcasing artist and architect-created furniture embodying modern design, will be discussing his new book, “Art & Furniture: An Oral History of the American Furniture Movement,” at the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Museum on Oct. 3 from 5 to 7 p.m. The book, conceived and edited by Miller, includes about 30 in-depth interviews with furniture artists, but also the curators and gallerists who championed their work. Among those included are Robert Aibel, Bob Cardinale, Judy Coady, Carole Hochman, Keith Johnson, Bebe and Warren Johnson, and Susan Lewin. 

Local icon furniture craftsman David Ebner is in the book as well, and will be included in the discussion. The talk will be led by Jeff Weinstein.

The Advance interview took place in Ebner’s luminous Brookhaven hamlet studio, a sort of enchanted golden-hued space tucked away on a small side street filled with light, hand tools, some machinery. And dust.

(Don’t wear black there.)

Miller, an elegant man with a calm personna, was asked what struck him about the subjects he spoke to: was it their experience with flow, timelessness?

“The overriding feeling was the passion they had and that it continues,” he said. “Obviously, they had challenges in their careers, but what’s in there is how they met them and how they moved on. Several artists are still creating with hand tools. The regrets include when they saw the monetary value of the work at this time, prices were lower.”

“Some don’t even make minimum at auction,” Ebner interjected. “2008 was at a crossroads for second-market items. They were facing challenges at that time.”

Miller pointed out that Ebner was still working. “You’ve changed the nature of your work,” he said.

Ebner, who can always be found in his studio, has made imaginative candlesticks, tables, rockers, lamps and other items like the scallion coat rack at The Bellport. He was cited with a Living Treasure Award for his body of work in 2015 at the Suffolk County Museum and has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institute, American Crafts Museum in New York, the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Art Basel in Switzerland among others, and locally at Pamela Lerner Home & Design.

Ebner has said that he set out to do an undeniable body of work made in the studio that’s one of a kind.

Miller introduced an example of change. “One interview was with Rick Wrigley,” Miller said. “He was very professionally active in the ’90s and had corporate clients, which helps, but then his main assistant moved, so he pivoted to real estate development and then sculpture.” Wrigley was an art furniture-maker, then a designer builder of houses and finally a sculptor.

A lot of the artists in the book have remained close, he said.

Miller grew up in Great Neck, remembers drawing constantly—houses, buildings, cars, planes—then tended towards designing interesting spaces. “I didn’t live far from Manhattan and going there was easy—MoMA, the American Craft Museum. My mother probably took me to my first museum.” He attended Cornell University, achieving a  Bachelor of Architecture degree, a five-year program. He is on the board of the New York School of Interior Design at 170 East 70th Street.

As for the reason Miller did the book, “I knew a lot of them were aging out of their careers, so it was how did they see their work and what are they doing now. It was exciting to create this whole thing. What would be important and fun to do for a legacy?”