Robell Awake



Robell Awake

About The Artist

Robell Awake • Atlanta, GA
Furniture

My work centers the histories and aesthetics of Black craft traditions throughout the Black diaspora, and combats the erasures and dominant narratives within furniture making. In my current body of work, I take inspiration from my research into the "mule eared" ladderback chairs pioneered by enslaved furniture maker Richard Poynor and the Jimma chairs of Ethiopia. By combining these forms, I hope to offer a new furniture aesthetic that is rooted in Black craft traditions and histories.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I use preindustrial methods and techniques to make my chairs. I split out most of my material by hand and shape all of my parts using hand tools.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

Wood is such a sensitive yet resilient material. It responds to its environment and moves with the seasons. I love having to work with and accommodate the reality of its never ending movement when making furniture.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

In a field obsessed with high tolerances and exactitude, my practice is rooted in the Black aesthetic traditions of improvisation and asymmetry.