During the first phase of my career, I cofounded Lunar in 1984. Lunar quickly established itself as a firm that was highly regarded by clients, employees and the design community. Over my three-decade tenure at Lunar, we won over three hundred design awards and our work was showcased in over twenty museum exhibitions, including the prestigious MOMA, SFMOMA, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2014 LUNAR was awarded the esteemed Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award in recognition of our three-decade body of work. In 2015 we sold Lunar to McKinsey & Company and I served as a Senior Advisor through April 2018. 

In the concluding years at Lunar, I immersed myself in several conceptual furniture projects, captivated by the notion of furniture as art. These conceptual explorations unveiled a realm where objects were visual statements that weren't confined by business requirements—a departure from the constraints of designing and producing commercial products. This revealing journey led me led to a profound transformation—from an industrial designer to an artist.

In 2019, I embarked on a new journey by founding Furbershaworks. Educated, and then practicing as a designer for four decades, my primary focus had revolved around problem-solving for clients. Although it was a rewarding career, I yearned to shift my focus towards self-expression after my experiences with the conceptual furniture projects at Lunar.

Furbershaworks serves as a platform to enable me to express my artistic sensibilities by creating and showcasing my art furniture. The name Furbershaworks embodies my drive to create works and also the toil associated with that process. The Conceptual Work section of my website showcases the work I do to explore the boundaries of art furniture. I have also worked on some 3D printed projects, laser cut projects, and had a fiberglass piece made. Nevertheless, my primary dedication is to create and make high-end maple plywood and bamboo plywood art furniture pieces. These can be viewed in the Overview of Pieces section of the website. 

I rely heavily on my design background to create and make these plywood pieces. I see myself as an amalgamation of artist, designer, and craftsperson. I am fascinated with digital fabrication. Leveraging computer-aided design (CAD) enables me to use computer numerical control (CNC) machining. This technology ensures that the parts of my art furniture pieces fit together precisely based on the geometry I've defined in CAD, allowing intricate details that traditional woodworking techniques are unable to easily achieve. Following this machining process, I painstakingly sand, finish, and assemble the parts. I also proudly brand the Furbershaworks name on each art furniture piece with a branding iron. 

The satisfaction of envisioning someone discovering the branded Furbershaworks name on their piece in the distant future brings me immense joy. Additionally, the appreciation and recognition of my work in museum settings serve as a significant source of fulfillment—this is the legacy I aspire to leave behind.

Diverging from commercial furniture manufacturers that operate at different mass production volumes, I make art pieces one at a time. My slogan encapsulates this essence: "art you can sit on."


If you’re interested in purchasing a piece, please contact me at info@furbershaworks.com.

Gerard Furbershaw