Profile

The design legacies of Frank Lloyd Wright and George Nakashima are alive and well, and living in DUMBO, where at City Joinery, architect and furniture designer Jonah Zuckerman breaths new life into these modern masters' blending of the traditional and the experimental. At this light-filled, loft-like furniture showroom and workshop on the Brooklyn waterfront, Zuckerman's pieces display an exciting and beautiful mix of classic woodworking technique and modern design. He favors the clean lines and pure shapes of Modernism, and his designs manifest the movement's tenet that a piece of furniture should express both its purpose and its structure. But where most modern designers chose to work in such materials as plastic, plywood, and tubular steel, Zuckerman, like Wright and Nakashima before him, uses solid hard woods—in varieties that are mostly American and sustainably harvested. The designer works with clients to create the perfect piece, whether inspired by the shapes, cantilevers, materials, and details in City Joinery's showroom and portfolio, or born from a customer's own vision. Clearly one who listens to his clients' needs, Zuckerman's function-oriented creations have included a reading chair with just the right lumbar support and arm height, and a glass-centered coffee table that accommodates both storage and a view down to an antique rug. — Andrew Sessa

Every October, during the DUMBO Art Show—an open studio event—City Joinery prices its floor samples to sell.