Platter (no. 206)

James Prestini was an American woodturner and designer whose vessels defined postwar American craft modernism. Working primarily in wood on the lathe, he created forms of severe geometric purity, often turned from single blocks of exotic timber and finished to mirror-like surfaces. Prestini taught at the Institute of Design in Chicago, where his approach to functional form as sculptural statement influenced a generation of studio craftspeople. His work bridges industrial design rationalism and the emerging studio craft movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Waterford, CT, United States