The cover image for this issue of Artkrush is a photograph of Michael W. Dreeben's Billet chaise lounge, a svelte hybrid of sculpture and furniture. Along with more than 600 other designers and artists, Dreeben is showing his latest collection at New York's International Contemporary Furniture Fair from May 19 to 22.

Dreeben studied sculpture at the University of Chicago, and after obtaining his MFA, he received a Fulbright grant to learn techniques from master woodworkers in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. Despite his artisanal skills, he took a commercial direction and founded Accuslab, which supplied collections for Crate and Barrel, Room and Board, and Home Depot's Expo Design Center.

More recently, Dreeben opened his own Chicago studio, and he now produces objects and furniture categorized as wood, metal, or "limited editions," which include a translucent pine lamp and a stack of razor-thin nesting bowls. For his wood pieces, Dreeben has developed relationships with sawyers in North and Central America and picks from walnut, teak, cherry, and monkey pod trees. Source materials don't get lost in Dreeben's transformations — all his wooden objects remain unadorned, and the counter of his cypress kitchen table is hewn from a single log. The studio forges metal into sturdy, compact furniture with a sculptural edge, as in the Billet chairs and lounges. Sexy, slim profiles and colors including lime and mandarin bring diversity to the overall collection.

A Dreeben piece can recall Calder's mobiles, American farmhouse furniture, or modern design classics like the Eames lounge chair. A fresh breed of interdisciplinary artists-cum-designers, Dreeben and his like-minded peers bring a fearless integrity to design. (LM)