Stephen Burks
Born1969
Chicago
EducationIllinois Institute of Technology Columbia University
Known forDesign
AwardsNational Design Award
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata

Stephen Burks (born 1969) is an American designer and a professor of architecture at Columbia University.[1] Burks is known for his collaborations with artisans as well as incorporating craft and weaving into product design.[2] He is the first African American to win the National Design Award for product design.[3]

Early life and education

Burks was born in Chicago in 1969.[4] He studied architecture and product design at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture.[4]

Career

Burks first founded his personal studio in New York in 1997, then called Readymade.[3] His trademark style, which includes incorporating craftsmanship and collaborating with artisans began in 2000, when Italian design brand Cappellini first put his designs into production. in 2003, Missoni commissioned him for Luxe fashion house. Patchwork vases, designed by him, was the first handmade objects produced in his studio. In 2005, Burks went to South Africa to collaborate with international artisans from countries such as South Africa, Senegal, and Philippines sponsored by Aid to Artisans. There he started working with hand-crafted furniture, baskets and fashion accessories which he became known for later in his career.[5]

Burks started his own design business at 2007 after meeting with Willard Musarurwa; a street vendor making wire souvenirs for tourists. After meeting each other in a local design institute at Cape Town, they launched TaTu wire outdoor furniture together which focused on Hand-crafted-style designed furniture and Artisan objects.

Burks held his eponymous solo exhibition in 2011, named "Stephen Burks: Man Made" in Studio Museum in Harlem, where he exhibited his practice of merging craftsmanship and contemporary design.[6] The exhibition included his work produced with artisans from countries such as South Africa, Senegal, and Peru.[3][7]

In 2015, Burks won the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for product design, the first .[8] In 2019, Stephen became the first product designer to attain a Harvard Loeb Fellowship.[1][9] Since, he has served as an expert in residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab. He also taught at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

His work is in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the High Museum of Art, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as Corning Museum of Glass.[10][11][12] His work is the subject of a forthcoming touring exhibition, "Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place" which debuted at the High Museum of Art in September 2022.[13]

In 2023 an exhibition at the Milan design fair (in which Burks was not a participant) attracted criticism after Burks and Jenny Nguyen pointed out that the pieces displayed lacked curatorial explanation of historical context, and were overtly racist stereotypical portrayals of people of non-European descent, stating: "It's really a question of how homogenous cultures like Italy marginalize people of non-European descent."[14][15] The resulting controversy led to a public apology from the organisers of the event.[16][17][18]

Style

Burks is known for directly working with handcraft artisans such as basket weavers, and incorporating craft into his work.[4] Burks describes his mission as "bringing the hand to industry".[3]

Awards and honors

  • Illinois Institute of Technology Alumni Professional Achievement Award[2]
  • Brooklyn Museum Modernism Young Designer Award[2]
  • Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Product Design (2015)[10]
  • Architektur and Wohnen Audi Mentor Prize[19]
  • 2008 United States Artists Target Fellowship[19]
  • Harvard Loeb Fellowship (2019)[20]

Publications

  • Gwinn, Elizabeth; Hayes, Lauren (2011). Stephen Burks: Man Made. The Studio Museum in Harlem. ISBN 9780942949155
  • Obniski, Monica (2022). Stephen Burks Shelter in Place. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300270853[21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Stephen Burks". Columbia GSAPP. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Craft in America Craft in America – Stephen Burks". www.craftinamerica.org. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 ""I've been the first and only African American to work with all my clients," says Stephen Burks". Dezeen. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "Man of the World". American Craft Council. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  5. ↑ Slenske, Michael (7 March 2016). "Dark arts: Stephen Burks brings a design slant to NYC's Armory Show". wallpaper.com. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  6. ↑ "Stephen Burks". The Studio Museum in Harlem. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "Studio Reprint: : Processing Stephen Burks". The Studio Museum in Harlem. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  8. ↑ "How Stephen Burks Became America's Hottest Furniture Designer". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  9. ↑ "Loeb Fellowship announces 2018–2019 cohort". Harvard Graduate School of Design. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  10. 1 2 "When the Artisanal & Industrial Collide". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. 25 November 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  11. ↑ "Collection Search | Corning Museum of Glass". www.cmog.org. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  12. ↑ "Stephen Burks, Traveler Armchair with Hood". philamuseum.org. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  13. ↑ "Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place". High Museum of Art. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  14. ↑ "A Racist Exhibition Mars Milan Design Week". ELLE Decor. 1 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  15. ↑ "Milan design week marred by "racist figurines" say designers". Dezeen. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  16. ↑ ""I embrace the opportunity to learn from my mistake" says Massimo Adario". Dezeen. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  17. ↑ Walton, Chris (26 April 2023). "Architect Massimo Adario responds to Campo Base". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  18. ↑ "Figurines at a Milan Design Week exhibit spark cries of racism". Business of Home. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  19. 1 2 "Stephen Burks". Stamps School of Art & Design. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  20. ↑ "Stephen Burks". The LOEB Fellowship. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  21. ↑ "Stephen Burks". Yale University Press. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
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