Kristina Madsen

Kristina Madsen is a furniture maker whose mother instilled in her a passion for meticulous handwork and a profound appreciation of quiet concentration. At age 19, Madsen became a student of British master craftsman, David Powell, at the Leeds Design Workshop in Easthampton, MA. After four years of training, she taught part-time while establishing her furniture-making business in Southampton, MA. She was an artist-in-residence at the University of Tasmania in 1988. In 1991, she received a Fulbright Grant to study wood­carv­ing in Fiji, under woodcarver Makiti Koto's guidance, where she learned the skill of freehand intaglio carving. She has subsequently used this carving technique to enliven the surfaces of her furniture. She has received fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the 2020-2021 recipient of the Furniture Society Award of Distinction and a 2022 Fellow in the American Craft Council College of Fellows. Her furniture is held by art museums and in private collections nationwide.

www.kristinamadsen.com | Instagram: #kristinamadsen

My work embodies the three distinct and enduring lineages of my mentors, woven together in my mind and by my hands. Through the lens of my aesthetic, I bring together in a most intentional way the traditions of the finely-wrought handwork, thoughtfully designed and masterfully built furniture, and the richly detailed surfaces created by the shallow marks of intaglio carving. My work also draws from an older and more universal tradition. Decorative pattern, abundant in all its complexities within the natural world, has been adopted throughout time and by all cultures to visually enhance plain surfaces.

POPPY CABINET, 2019, Cabinet: maple, milk paint, gesso / Base: bubinga, 56.5 X 60 X 21. Photo Credit: Kathy Tarantola

The BELLE CABINETS, 2013, Cabinets: maple, milk paint, gesso / Base: wenge, 66 x 36 x 15. Photo Credit: Stephen Petegorsky