biography

For over three decades, San Francisco artist Norman Petersen has been designing and making original and meticulously-crafted furniture.

He studied painting. lithography and design at Academy of Art in Munich, San Francisco Art Institute and at Stanford University.

For Petersen, furniture is like a canvas for three-dimensional expression. Function happens because he designs furniture, but visual expression is the most important think for him.

His art is grounded in rigorous discipline and innovative approaches. He paints, stains, joints, bends shapes his materials into very elegant and functional object of art. Petersen's furniture is born from consummate craftsmanship, yet is always fresh and modern; its style has been described as furniture that looks European by way of California.

His materials are primarily wood, steel, glass, leather and stone.

Petersen's work has been published in many magazines and books and is enjoyed in private collections and museums including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum of Arts and Design and Fine Arts Museum of Boston.

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