Detroit-based furniture designer Evan Fay grew up in the Traverse City area and comes from a family of seasoned maple syrup-makers who have been sugaring for generations. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been actively making with my hands,” he says. “There have been moments and people along the way that shed light on opportunities that led me to furniture.”
In particular, he points to his grandfather, Larry Coe, who encouraged him to consider a career at the ripe age of 5. Fay shares that the path he chose hinges on memories of building birdhouses with his grandfather; their creative process started with a sketch and resulted in a three-dimensional object fit for feathered occupants.
Thanks to the seeds his grandfather sowed, Fay wove design, construction, and architecture into a fruitful profession, and received a BFA in furniture design from Kendall College of Art and Design and an MFA in 3-D Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. As a second-year graduate student at Cranbrook, Fay worked under Dutch design studio Kiki & Joost. During his apprenticeship, a light switched on. “I finally took ownership over my work and ruled out all agonized designs,” he says. From there, Fay says he entered a new era and his breakout series, Lawless, was born.
As the name implies, the Lawless Series repels rules; the work is shaped by intuition. Fay randomly weaves “the supportive cushion to be both useful and expressive, formally and conceptually balancing a comfortable seat with a visually striking form.” He literally ties the knot between form and function, using his body as a human loom. The process guarantees the authenticity of each piece, as no two works are the same.
Fay implements unconventional approaches to padding, upholstery, and joining across his work. His signature techniques consist of hand-finishing, sewing, and brass-brazing — a metal joining process often used in building bikes. “Everything is fabricated in the studio and done mostly by hand,” he says. “I prefer analogue methods over digital, and archaic over modern technologies.”
In addition to sculpting furniture, Fay creates soft seating and interior objects. He says the Grid Vessels are his favorite, given the element of interaction they contain. “I’m intentionally making loud and expressive statement pieces for the interior. These pieces have the ability to operate as functional art in a space and are understood and utilized in that way.”
Fay’s bold designs attract attention from art collectors and critics, as well as celebrities such as Cardi B, who commissioned a custom sofa. In the future, Fay hopes to produce a larger volume of work and bigger pieces. “Over the next months, I’ll be preparing two large sofas that will be exhibited with Mauricio Kirschner during Paris Design Week,” which takes place in the fall. “I’m also getting ready for my first solo show with Galerie Philia, which will take place in September” to coincide with the annual Detroit Month of Design.
In August 2023, Fay, with his partner, ceramicist Hayden Allison Richér, purchased an historic building in Detroit’s Morningside neighborhood to house his long-awaited, full-time studio. It took eight years to build a practice that supports Fay — an accomplishment the designer says he’s most proud of.
“Detroit lends itself to how I want to freely work and live in an environment,” explains the designer, who adds that it was less about “Why Detroit?” and more “Why not Detroit?” Fay and Richér envision creating a space for themselves, their neighbors, and community. “We want to build an environment that’s like a creative sanctuary,” Fay says.
More Information: throwbackshome.com
Text by Christine Hildebrand.
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