Exhibition

Conversation Pieces

Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue
August 20, 2022–June 25, 2023
Floor 6

From a felted chair resembling mushrooms to a rocking chair made from 3-D printed recycled plastic, Conversation Pieces features 45 works of furniture that prioritize meaning and material choice over function and practicality. The exhibition is organized by Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, and Alexandra Loew, a Los Angeles-based interior architect, into fluid and meandering categories that feel conversational rather than authoritative. With plush seating for visitors and intimate, moody lighting, the gallery fosters an immersive atmosphere that invites visitors into the unfolding conversation.

Interspersed throughout, interviews with six designers, including Jay Sae Jung Oh and Fernando Laposse, speak to issues designers face today. In the spirit of dialogue, you are invited to join ongoing in-person and online conversations that draw connections between these collection works that touch upon sustainability, identity, and history.

Header: Conversation Pieces (installation view), 2022; photo: Katherine Du Tiel

Featured Designers

Maarten Baas
Thomas Barger
Germane Barnes
Stephen Burks
Fernando Campana and Humberto Campana
Fabien Cappello
Nacho Carbonell
Woody De Othello
Francesca DiMattio
Lucy Dodd
Nathalie du Pasquier
Fredrikson Stallard
Dan Friedman and Paul Ludick
Martino Gamper
Johanna Grawunder
h220430
Industrial Facility
Bijoy Jain / Studio Mumbai
Ania Jaworska
Jay Sae Jung Oh
Dozie Kanu
Rei Kawakubo
Shiro Kuramata
Joris Laarman
Max Lamb
Fernando Laposse
Kwangho Lee
Liam Lee
Roy McMakin
Ryuji Nakamura
Isamu Noguchi
Sophie Nys
Liliana Ovalle
Gaetano Pesce
Tom Price
Leon Ransmeier
Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello
Nendo
Katie Stout
Marijn van der Poll
Dirk Vander Kooij
Marcel Wanders
Tobias Wong
Bethan Laura Wood
Tokujin Yoshioka

Exhibition Preview

Conversation Pieces (installation view), 2022; photo: Matthew Millman
Conversation Pieces (installation view), 2022; photo: Matthew Millman
Conversation Pieces (installation view), 2022; photo: Matthew Millman
Conversation Pieces (installation view), 2022; photo: Matthew Millman
Nathalie du Pasquier, Royal chaise, 1983; gift of Miranda Leonard, © Nathalie du Pasquier; photo: Katherine Du Tiel
Woody De Othello, Prying Through, 2021; Purchase through a gift of the FOG Designers Forum, © Woody De Othello, Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco. Photo Credit: Phillip Maisel
Bijoy Jain, Studio Mumbai, Brick Study III bench, 2016; Accessions Committee Fund purchase, © Bijoy Jain, Photo: Katherine Du Tiel
Jay Sae Jung Oh, Savage series armchair, 2020; Accessions Committee Fund purchase, © Jay Sae Jung Oh, Photo: Amanda Ringstad
Dozie Kanu, Slessor 2.0, 2021; Accessions Committee Fund purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams, © Dozie Kanu, Photo: Katherine Du Tiel
Germane Barnes, Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown (4), 2020; Accessions Committee Fund purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams, © Germane Barnes
Katie Stout, Unique Girl Lamp, 2017; Purchase through a gift of the FOG Designers Forum, © Katie Stout, Photo: Katherine Du Tiel

Generous support of Conversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue is provided by Diana Nelson and John Atwater.

Additional support is provided by The Sanger Family Architecture and Design Exhibition Fund and the Diane and Howard Zack Fund for Architecture and Design.