Quinn James Ferree is a furniture designer and heritage craftsman based in Brooklyn, New York.
He is inspired by mid-century and art deco designs, which he augments with modern practicality and aesthetics. He looks toward Charles Eames, Eero Sarinen, Hans Wegner, and Arne Jacobsen for inspiration, guiding his instinct to match form with function through the media of hardwood, metal, stone, and glass. When manipulating materials, he brings gravity to his ideas through processes learned under master woodworker James Murphy and welding techniques studied at Michael Daniel Metal Design Studio and under Scott Van Campen of MakerSpace NYC.
Restlessness, for its part, is not born of the physical but rather comes from creativity. Quinn can no easier rest the creative impulse than he can sit still after the morning’s coffee. This energy has found its way into nearly every facet of his life, and his curiosity for furniture design fuses a sense of creativity with a desire to build things that last for generations.
Quinn comes from a long line of craftsmen. Within the Ferree crest lies a legacy of blacksmiths, metal workers, and gunsmiths dating back to thirteenth-century French nobility. His father, Wayne Ferree of Ferree Studios, is a master stone carver, whose work most notably lives within the National Cathedral in Washington DC in the form of ornamental carvings, finials, and gargoyles. Although for Quinn, perhaps his father’s most influential work are the projects they would build together as father and son. These early constructions taught and allowed him to absorb the craftsmanship and pride of his family’s skill, a legacy he seeks to preserve in lasting designs.
The challenge of creating something that lasts is at the heart of every design idea that enters Quinn’s imagination. For every minute spent designing, every long hour in the studio, and every finishing touch, there exists the exhilaration of creating something that will be passed forward through time. Objects that absorb and embrace the energy of a future heritage are the foundation of his work.
In a world filled with fast-furniture and a disposable mentality, Quinn’s pieces force a person to slow down, to gaze, to interact with, and to wonder. They are the subject of conversation at a dinner party. They are the gravity in a space that deserves soulful connection. They are the object that becomes an heirloom.
Creative restlessness, when harnessed, leads to magic. Every piece that starts with an idea and then becomes a custom, one-of-a-kind Quinn James Studio creation embraces this magic and the story of generations to come.