elizabeth paige smith
Smith’s approach to design extends beyond the usual concern with functional innovation. Her designs can be defined as “modern organic”- minimal, sensual, sculptural, and sleek. Smith’s work embodies sophistication, utilizing combinations of the seemingly incompatible. For one set of designs she applies synthetic resin and urethane coating to core industrial materials such as balsa wood, for another she allows pigment to coexist inside the sleekness of lucite. In each instance she elevates the rough and natural to a heightened level of elegance and sensory engagement. Smith’s work has been seen at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, as well as the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.