Michael COFFEY

Michael Coffey is a self-taught master of wood. Born and raised in New York City, Coffey begins to sculpt wood around 1972 and follow the footsteps of great American craftsmen such as George Nakashima and Wharton Esherick. In 1978 he first shows his Aphrodite chair, a monumental piece of curved wood which knew a warm public acclaim. Coffey is drawn to the irregular and rounded forms - his trademark – aiming to produce rounded shapes in order to make functional pieces. In 1972, as he begins to be well known, he collaborates with Directional Furniture, the firm which produced Paul Evans furniture. During the 1970s Michael Coffey opens his own school “School of Fine Woodworking” in his farm located in Poultney, Vermont where he lived. There, he teaches woodworking and furniture-making to a very limited number of students.