Definitively maximalist and wildly inventive, designer and sculptor Misha Kahn uses all the traditional craft mediums, combining them in new and fantastical ways to create furniture, lighting, and sculpture. His recent exhibition, Misha Kahn: Staged, at Friedman Benda in Los Angeles, included Curious Unkempt Dawn, a hand-woven fiber and ceramic table; Ever Sessile Pupa, an aluminum and beaded and embroidered fabric chair; and the Harvest Moon loveseat, pictured here, made of stainless steel and knit new wool, polyester, and nylon.

In describing the exhibition, Kahn likened his process to creating crime fiction: “I’m drawn to exploring all the various motives and red herrings to arrive, inevitably, at closure. When the mystery is solved, a good storyteller, having carefully tied a string through the entire story, picks up all the seemingly loose ends and brings them together.”

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Kahn lives in Brooklyn. His new book, Casually Sauntering the Perimeter of Now, was published through a collaboration between Friedman Benda and Apartamento magazine and released in April. Kahn designed 50 limited-edition dust jackets for the book.

What’s next for the eclectic, exuberant Kahn? “I’m currently working on building a house,” he said recently. “The studio is producing every element of the building and interior. It’s an exercise in finding the Venn diagram of sustainability, mysticism, and radical aesthetics.”
—The Editors

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