JOHN DUNNIGAN

risd connection: Professor and Head, Department of Furniture Design; MFA in Furniture Design, 1980

about his work: Disenchanted with the “woody and macho” approach of the ’70s and intrigued by both classical tradition and popular culture, Dunnigan achieved his biggest breakthrough in 1981 with the debut of a slinky boudoir chair sheathed in raspberry silk. From then on, he says, “I was the guy with the well-placed tassel,” a designer who dared use captivating “details in unexpected places.” Dunnigan’s eloquently eclectic role in the art furniture movement has been documented in dozens of books, catalogues and periodicals such as The New York Times (which has featured his “wickedly suggestive love seat”), Better Homes and Gardens, The Chicago Tribune, Town and Country, Metropolis, House Beautiful, Newsweek and Art and Antiques.

road to risd: In 1975 Dunnigan opened John Dunnigan Studio in West Kingston, RI, specializing in one-of-a-kind furniture. After earning his MFA in Furniture Design in 1980, he served as an editorial consultant to Taunton Press, publisher of Fine Woodworking Magazine, and joined RISD’s adjunct faculty, teaching furniture design and history in Interior Architecture and Industrial Design. In 1996, when RISD first launched a Department of Furniture Design, he became a full professor, with a split position between the new department and Interior Architecture. Since 1986 he has also been a partner in Dunnigan Wahl Associates with his wife, Wendy Wahl MAE ’85, a fiber and mixed media artist.

when not teaching, he’s likely to be: … working in his studio in the Rhode Island woods.… preparing for an upcoming show…

discovery: “Between making furniture and making poetry there are more similarities than dissimilarities.”

education
Rhode Island School of Design, MFA, Furniture Design, 1980
University of Rhode Island, BA, English, 1972

awards
URI Alumni Award for Excellence in the Arts, 1998
Andrew W. Mellon Museum Study Grant, 1997