Abir Ali and Andre Sandifer, who met as architecture students at the University of Michigan, have been producing bespoke furniture handcrafted from American hardwoods in the heart of the country since 2004.
This Detroit design studio with a penchant for mid-century-inspired furniture was founded in 2004 by Abir Ali, who curates the firm’s body of work, and Andre Sandifer, who specializes in the hand-fabrication of the designs.
"The American Craft Council is excited to announce the finalists for the 2017 Rare Craft Fellowship Award in association with The Balvenie. For the last three years, the Rare Craft Fellowship Award has recognized and supported artists’ contributions to the maintenance and revival of traditional or rare crafts in America."
Made in the workshop, not in software: carefully crafted wooden furniture from architect-trained duo Ali Sandifer
Move over, Eames. This Detroit-based furniture designer is bringing a fresh focus to furniture without compromising style.
From Andre Sandifer and Abir Ali of Ali Sandifer Studio, the Tele Side Table’smid-century vibe is handcrafted from sustainably harvested, domestic hardwoods making it built to last. By using natural oils and water-based sealants, the natural grain and knots remain leaving the beauty of the wood intact. Plus, it’s made in the U.S.A.
“That collaboration eventually grew into a marriage, three children, and acclaimed furniture house Ali Sandifer Studio.”
“For all its complexity, the finished product ends up with their signature clean, simple look... ‘the challenge [to Sandifer] is to get it to the point where someone will say it is simple.’”
“We’re not dealing with a computer model; we’re not on Rhino [a design program]. That’s not part of our design process,” Ali said. “We really like to do it in the shop from the ground up. So we become really intimate with the feasibility of how to construct it. We want to express as much as possible the capability of the wood.”
“We want [our work] to be beautiful,” Ali says of the tables, coffee tables, desks, and entertainment centers they build from a variety of solid woods, opting to never stain their pieces in order to maintain the natural beauty. But the furniture “needs to be smart,” too, Ali adds.
“And typical of well-educated designers, it’s all about the process. Atypical is the couples’ thoughtful consideration of function within the form. Each creation in the collection is meant to put to be put to work solving the storage dilemma. And work it does: These meticulously crafted, refined compositions provide intelligent solutions while looking good, too.”
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