'Black Magic' Coffee Table, 1997

Wendell Castle made a name for himself creating functional objects that took on biomorphic sculptural forms. He was both a designer and an artist, blurring the line between furniture and fine art. He created his fine art furniture using a technique of carving stack laminated wood, an idea he conjured while recalling the process of making decoy ducks as a child. Initially, it was an attractive technique because it allowed for cheaper and faster production than carving forms from a single block of wood, but it soon became a signature aspect of his woodwork that continued long into his success. Castle created postwar modern designs that were created by the artist's studio and never mass-produced, earning him the title of "Father of Abstract Furniture" in the American Studio Craft.