The New York-based interior designer Brad Ford began his career with a focus on conceiving homes featuring edited compositions of artful furniture and accessories. But somewhere along the line, the objects themselves stole his heart.
“I’ve always had a real appreciation for craft,” said Mr. Ford, 57, noting that a beautifully made wooden chair or table can stop him in his tracks.
Mr. Ford said his upbringing in small-town Arkansas stoked his interest in handmade goods. His father had a backyard workshop and they frequently attended arts and crafts fairs together. “I always loved being around other creative people,” Mr. Ford said.
Aiming to replicate that experience for a new generation, Mr. Ford started Field + Supply, his take on a craft fair, in 2014 in Kingston, N.Y., about 100 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. The event, which he billed as “a modern maker’s market,” has since grown into a biannual weekend attraction for hundreds of vendors and thousands of attendees. The next market is scheduled for Friday to Sunday.
After Field + Supply’s success, Mr. Ford started Fair, a showroom in the New York Design Center in Manhattan that offers handcrafted furniture and objects, the following year.
Mr. Ford routinely finds himself surrounded by beautiful wares, but he still has personal favorites. Many of them are on display in the sitting room of the house he shares with his partner, Kirk Hunter, in Amagansett, N.Y., a Hamptons hamlet.
Easy Upgrade
Sheepskin Throw, from $123 at Fibre by Auskin
When designing interiors, Mr. Ford usually favors the “very understated,” he said. But stark, minimalist interiors can sometimes feel uninviting.
“There is that fine line between things being very edited and things being boring,” Mr. Ford said, “so I’m always looking for ways to create texture or layers.”
One of his favorite tricks is to sling sheepskin throws, which he buys from sources like Fibre by Auskin and Design Within Reach, over sofas and chairs. In bedrooms, he puts them on the floor where people will step out from under the covers in the morning. “It’s just an easy way to add a layer of softness,” Mr. Ford said.
Some homeowners put sheepskin throws out only in the winter, “but I tend to have them out all the time,” Mr. Ford said, adding, “I just like the way they feel.”
Splurge
Vintage Lounge Chair by George Nakashima, $15,000 from SoHo Treasures
To Mr. Ford, George Nakashima “is the OG” of modernist woodworkers.
“I’ve just always loved Nakashima,” he said. “I have a number of pieces, but this chair in particular is really special to me.”
Crafted from walnut, the chair has a spindled back and single slab arm. Mr. Ford had long admired the design, but was discouraged to see similar examples sell for upward of $25,000. In recent years, “the prices were just skyrocketing,” he said.
When he purchased this chair from the dealer SoHo Treasures in July, it was priced lower than Nakashima chairs he had seen elsewhere but was among the most beautiful.
“I like the knots and the live edge of this particular arm,” he said. The price was still “nuts,” he said. “But I don’t regret it at all.”
One of a Kind
Sculpture by Jere Williams, $1,575 from the artist
While Mr. Ford was judging the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington this year, he discovered the work of Jere Williams, a furniture maker and sculptor. He couldn’t resist acquiring this piece for his home.
“When I went to the opening, I just snatched this piece up immediately because I thought there was something about it that was irreverent, but at the same time poetic,” Mr. Ford said. “And it was so beautifully executed.”
The piece, resembling a pillow holding a stone, has a base crafted from solid cherry wood, even though it appears soft and plump. “Even the seam in the pillow is amazing,” Mr. Ford said. “The details are so wild.”
Such beautifully handcrafted pieces can enhance almost any interior, he added. “These types of things work in so many different contexts,” Mr. Ford said, “whether it’s modern or traditional, casual or formal.”
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