GREGORY
CLARK with his classic entry table.
NOTE: our favorite
dining table, rear left. WEBSITE HERE.
Recently displaying art works for...the
table -
learn about this craft here...click below for "CRAFT USA '08" - online
from Silvermine Craft Symposium:
High
Speed: http://www.aboutweston.com/SilvermineCraftSymposium11-30-08CableVersionUnabridged.wmv
Modem
Version: http://www.aboutweston.com/SilvermineCraftSymposium11-30-08ModemVersionUnabridged.wmv
NEWS!
Westonite's design contest is for kids
Written by Joan Lownds, Hersam Acorn Newspapers
Tuesday, 20 April 2010 00:00
“All children are artists,” Pablo Picasso said. “The problem is how to
remain an artist once you grow up.”
Westonite Gregory Clark is seeking to solve that challenge with a new
project that encourages children’s creative pursuits and “trains them
toward aesthetic discovery.” Mr. Clark, a furniture designer and
co-owner of Artifact Design Group gallery in Wilton, recently launched
MyDesignFoundation, which aims to “plant the early seeds for the
creative thinkers of our future and cultivate the arts in the
community.”
The nonprofit foundation offers four seasonal design competitions for
students in grades 6-12, beginning with “Improve A School Locker” for
spring 2010. Others will include “Design A Water Toy,” “Design A School
Desk,” “Design A Wake-up Device,” and “Design A Watch of the Future.”
“The preliminary launch will be for Fairfield County and then we expect
to roll it out nationally,” Mr. Clark said.
For the contests, students develop a design and document it with a
90-second video. The MyDesign Foundation Web site offers tips on
creating the designs, including looking back to history and how it was
done in the past; how it may be done differently; picking good
materials, and using science and nature for inspiration.
Middle school and high school students will be judged in separate
groups. Each competition will have a panel of judges that will make
comments and record them on a certificate of achievement. Each entrant
will receive this certificate.
The grand prize winner in the Improve A School Locker competition will
receive an Apple MacBook Pro; the second place winner gets an Apple
iPod Mini; and the third place winner gets a Flip HD Camera.
Mr. Clark said entries will be judged on “researching and identifying a
problem to solve; conceiving a design solution to the problem; building
a model, drawing or communication method to present the design
solution; and the verbal video.”
Judges for the first competition are Mr. Clark, a graduate of Rhode
Island School of Design, and former consultant and product designer for
Fortune 500 companies; Susan Babcock, business strategist, with a
master’s degree in teaching from Stanford University; Joshua Freidman,
inventor and manufacturer of 20 medical devices; Richard Castagna,
designer, manufacturer, founder of International Sourcing Company; Joe
Doe, materials engineer; and Joy Baldridge, communications expert and
public speaking coach.
If the competitions help inspire students to venture into the the fine
arts, “the world may one day thank them,” Mr. Clark said. Registration
for the competition begins April 15. The fee is $30 and financial
assistance is available.
For more information, visit www.mydesignfoundation.org.
No, you are not in the Museum of Modern Art - you are in
Wilton,
Connecticut, at ARTIFACT Design Group, LLC custom furniture
gallary .
ARTIFACT DESIGN GROUP is proud to introduce to you a new collection of
museum quality pieces by emerging artist and noted industrial designer,
GREGORY CLARK. Each piece is signed and meticulously produced in
the Artifact production studio in series of only nine.
Artifact Design Group's standard collection of Formal Contemporary(c)
furniture represents some of the finest furniture being produced
today. Collectible quality it blends the purest old world
techniques with many
new and exciting state of the art methods. Each piece can be customized
with exotic materials or scaled to meet your specific needs. Our firm
works with many top East Coast interior designers catering to clients in
Greenwich, Manhattan and the Hamptons.
Our gallery and production studios are conveniently located in Wilton,
CT minutes from I-95 or the Merritt Parkway.
The gallery is open 7 days a week / 10:00 to 5:00 ~ Monday to Saturday
& 11:00 to 3:00 ~ Sunday.
From
ARTIFACT at the beginning of this school year:
Or...integrate ART OF
THE TABLE - sculpture, magnificent wall objects, too, with
collectable furniture!
"...Attached
is a recent article from Fairfield
County Business Journal. As you will read, the article
talks about a new venture to compliment our company - The Gregory Clark Collection of
one-of-a-kind and limited series pieces (editions of 9).
"Our clients have requested
exclusive original works from Gregory to be signed and
authenticated. These pieces are conceived and intimately produced
by Gregory with one of his finest veteran craftsmen.
The work will be available in a handful of the finest
galleries in NYC and Miami
as well as through gregoryclarkart.com.
"Artifact Design Group is
continuing to grow and create beautiful designs for its collection as
well as taking on non-stop custom commissions. Feel free to visit
our gallery to see our latest projects or view our internationally
renowned textile art collection curated by Brown Grotta Arts.
"We
look forward to seeing you soon."
Wilton firm taps into the simple and
exotic
Greenwich TIME
By Harold Davis, Special Correspondent
Published December 6 2006
If you're looking for furniture that's unique and artistic, you might
consider Artifact Design Group LLC of Wilton. Owner Greg Clark designs
and manufactures wood furniture that also incorporates exotic materials
such as stone, steel or glass.
"I don't think we've made an identical piece twice," said Clark, who
co-owns the business with his wife, Elizabeth.
"With a manufacturing factory, we're able to create what I come up with
over the weekend and test-market it in the showroom. I call the
showroom my laboratory," said the Weston resident, who employs a staff
of 10.
Clark operated the business out of his garage for nearly two years.
Then he bought land, and, nearly six years ago, constructed a building
at 66 Danbury Road where he occupies about 7,000 square feet.
He typically designs three or four new pieces of furniture a month.
They run the gamut, from upholstered items to cabinets and tables and
chairs. Pieces start in the $2,000 range.
"I classify my design style as formal contemporary. It represents
elegant, clean lines and exotic, rich materials," Clark said.
Fifty percent of his business comes from interior designers and
architects, who are liaisons between him and their clients. The other
half of his business is selling directly to the consumer, with his
designs attracting customers from Fairfield County, New York City and
as far away as Miami.
In the beginning, Clark made all of the furniture, but now he has a
team of seven involved in manufacturing.
Clark's works often require collaboration. To add finishing touches to
a particular piece of furniture, he may call upon someone in a network
of about 200 artists to add their personal touch - in glass or steel.
He has always had an inventive spirit. He grew up in a family antiques
restoration environment. As a child, he made award-winning miniature
furniture.
Clark previously served as director of product development at Simco in
Weston and operated We Walk, a shoe manufacturing dot-com business that
created high-end shoes.
Working with furniture, however, was still an overriding passion for
Clark, so he decided to pursue it.
And the 42-year-old designer is happy that he made that decision. He is
thoroughly pleased about the way his business has developed and looks
forward to expanding. He hopes to open showrooms in the Hamptons and in
the South Beach section of Miami within the next two years.
Ali Schwarz, an interior designer of AS Interior Design in Redding, has
worked with Artifact Design Group on projects. She said that she enjoys
the detail that Clark puts into his work.
"He's done a few projects for me, various functional pieces like a
tet-a-tet, a bench that sat in the middle of a room. I had a fabric
with customized embroidery that he worked around. His finishes are of a
superior quality, and I prefer working with him because of the end
result," she said.
One of Schwarz's projects called for a painted finish, and she called
upon Clark to do the job. While painted finishes are not Clark's
specialty, she said he went to "great lengths" to make sure the project
"met all the requirements."
Though custom-designed furniture is expensive, Schwarz said that people
are increasingly interested in enhancing their home decor with unique
furniture.
"I've always worked on the higher end," she said. "But I do believe, in
general, that the public is becoming more savvy and getting into the
aesthetic of their home."
ARTIFACT
D E S I G
N G R O U P L L C
Furniture
Designer Completes Showroom and Studio in Wilton - watch video
interviews of Greg Clark and Tom Grotta at ARTIFACT:
"ABOUT TOWN"
SPECIAL EDITION, IN TWO PARTS, ON ART FURNITURE AND "ART OF THE TABLE"
A very special look at museum
quality art furniture and table art, with distinguished guests Greg
Clark, Weston resident, of Artifact Design Group, and Tom Grotta of
browngrotta arts.
For Part
1,
please
Click
Here If You Are Using A Dial-Up Modem
For Part 1, please Click
Here If You Are Using A DSL Or Cable Connection
For Part 2, please
Click
Here If You Are Using A Dial-Up Modem
For Part 2, please Click
Here If You Are Using A DSL Or Cable Connection
------------------------------------------
GREGORY M.
CLARK, award-winning furniture
designer, has completed his most-accomplished design – a beautiful
showroom
and studio in Wilton. Greg, graduated from Rhode Island School of
Design (RISD) with a degree in Industrial Design. While at RISD,
Greg had exposure to course work with master craftsmen/designer Tage
Frid,
and participated in studies with glass artist, Dale Chihuly. He
is
a fellowship recipient from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, to study at
the European Center for Artisans in the Conservation of Architectural
Relics,
Venice Italy. Since his studies, Greg has received 35+ patents
for
his designs in consumer products working with Fortune 500 companies
such
as Hoechst Celanese, Proctor & Gamble, Schick Razor, Scott Paper,
Johnson
& Johnson, Clinique, Kimberly Clark, Engelhard and Adidas.
During
these years in the corporate world, he made beautiful furniture for his
home in Weston. It was this passion for woodworking that led him
to the creation of Artifact Design Group.
Artifact
Design Group creates elegant,
formal-contemporary furniture that blends well with traditional
decor.
Having grown up with antiques, Greg’s designs use time-tested,
old-world
joinery techniques and each piece receives hand-rubbed French polish
finishes
that best capture the true brilliance of wood’s grain and color.
“Most of the furniture today is soulless.” states Greg, “with unknown
origins,
designed for mass production and embody unoriginal adaptations of
historical
styles.” Creating with Artifact Design Group is a
thought-provoking
process where the client’s interior space and desires are considered as
much as the final piece. “Our furniture will be the ‘antiques of
tomorrow’ - intrinsically rich in materials and execution, to be viewed
as collectibles and richly enjoyed by many generations.” says Greg
Clark.
In addition
to private commissions, Artifact
Design Group has a product line that is sold in 70 galleries and
contemporary
furniture showrooms in the country. The signature collection is
more
contemporary in design than the commissions, with clean lines,
mixed-media
materials, and extraordinary craftsmanship. Visit the website
(artifactdesigngroup.com)
to see the collection that represents work from top artists in various
mediums (blown glass, ceramics, iron, paper, etc.).
Artifact
Design Group’s studio/showroom
is newly constructed and conceived to reflect high-end design through
originality,
beautiful proportions and rich materials. The building was
designed
with fundamentally traditional aesthetics on the exterior and with
clean,
open contemporary museum-like interior space. Beautifully
detailed
with hand-cut stone, solid-handcrafted mahogany doors, copper details,
and Italian lighting, the building complements the collection of
furniture.
Intriguing details were considered in the final design such as a
conference
room with a leather floor by Edelman Leather that is available for
private
design consultations. Selections of natural materials (stone,
leather,
exotic woods species, etc) and hand-crafted elements (ceramic, blown
glass,
paper, hammered iron, etc.) entice one to think outside-the-box for
design.
In the back of the showroom, there are glass windows that allow
visitors
to view high-end, one of a kind, furniture being crafted. In the
center of the showroom there is an espresso bar and theatre viewing
area
where clients can watch video content to learn more about Artifact
Design
Group’s commissioned artists, furniture designers and the process of
design.
In addition
to its own collection, other
lines of furniture and accessories are being sold in the
showroom.
Knoll’s classics of the contemporary furniture movement of the last
century
are available for purchase. A new upholstered line of furniture
from
Italy, Crivellari, is available with custom-design features.
Artemide,
a line of lighting from Italy, is shown throughout the building
(interior
& exterior architectural lighting) and also available for
purchase.
Various boutique furniture makers such as John Hartcorn of Boston
Furnituremakers
will complement Artifact Design Group’s collection. “For all of
our
products, we celebrate the artists/designers and communicate to our
clients
the origins of each piece we promote and sell” states Greg.
A portfolio
of current projects can be
viewed at: artifactdesigngroup.com or contact Greg Clark (203) 834-7757
for a private showing. The showroom, located on the corner of
Route
7 and Hollyhock Road in Wilton, is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00
to
4:00 or by appointment.
From
the Norwalk HOUR front page Thursday, March 10, 2005...
