North Carolina’s Triangles Are Fueling Experimental Craft Communities
Local designers and artisans are driving a positive, playful makers culture that will endure, even after a devastating hurricane.
This story is part of our annual look at the state of American design. This year, we’re highlighting work that shines through an acrimonious moment—and makes the case for optimism.
Although it might not always get the flowers it deserves, North Carolina is one of America’s great hubs of design. There’s the ongoing legacy of the Black Mountain College, of course, where everyone from Walter Gropius to Buckminster Fuller helped generations of students push the midcentury avant-garde. More recently, a pair of triads—the Research Triangle, composed of universities around Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, and the more commercial trio of Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point, home to the namesake semiannual fair—are fueling growth in tech and business sectors. And, to a degree, design.
Craftsperson and designer Mike Newins moved to the state in his mid-20s, and in both his personal practice and his fabrication studio, Make Nice, he finds inspiration in everything from Light and Space art to cyberpunk to local forests. Much new work happening around him is rooted in craft, he says. At the Pocosin Arts school, the Penland School of Craft, and in their own studios, designers make playful work with traditional methods: "furniture that is often unserious but made by someone with blindingly high skills."
But these designers and artisans have also had a difficult time getting support from the institutions driving the regions’ economies. For example, Generator at Congdon Yards, a space that gives designers access to industrial-grade woodworking tools, is, in Newins’s estimation, a half-hearted attempt to lure talent to High Point. "I think High Point [Market] is willing to play with us but hasn’t quite figured out what the playground is." Nevertheless, "the craft community is happily building a positive and experimental culture," Newins adds. "I hope to see this trickle into the market."
Mike Newins’s picks
Stuck Sculpture by Matt Byrd
Matt Byrd is a Raleigh-based sculptor whose abstract stone carvings express the wondrous ephemera of nature. Working primarily in found granite, his interlocking configurations—featuring stones painstakingly carved and textured for hours by hand—show his eye for pleasing proportions and delicate balance.
ShopLimestone Lamp No.03 by Mike Newins
Make Nice is an interdisciplinary design and fabrication studio in North Carolina. They offer handmade furniture, custom buildouts, and creative partnerships. Everything is designed and handcrafted by Mike Newins.
ShopWellborn Chair by Evan Berding
Approached by the clients to replicate the ergonomics of a 60-year-old wicker chair of theirs, these chairs visually suspend the handwoven wicker seat within the architectural frame. The sculptural components, tactile joinery and depth of the milk-painted frame provide as much interest for the hand as for the eye. European beech, milk paint, reed.
ShopLamp 10 by Gracie Diver
Gracie Diver is an artist based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her work spans series of lamps, paintings, and mosaics.
ShopShadow Box in Sycamore and Maple by Jason Pak Swienckowski
Swienckowski’s work includes pots, metal furniture, woodwork, and miscellaneous objects.
ShopCurvy Rug by Cicil
Sensual and surprising, the Curvy Rug fits nicely under a dining table, bed, or sofa. This conversation piece brings a zing to any room. Dimensions: 5' x 6'
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