Sarah Sherman Samuel reimagines Midwestern roots in new furniture collection

Sarah Sherman Samuel’s latest fall collection for SSS Atelier draws on memories of her Michigan childhood, blending midwestern environments with modern design. The line includes pieces like the Kite Chair, inspired by flying kites in open fields, and the Fort Cabinet, which mimics stacked wood with its slatted facade. Other items, such as the Bivvy chair and the Au Sable dining table, reference camping shelters and the winding shape of a local river. The collection also marks a personal milestone: Samuel has opened her own gallery and renovated a mid-century home, further tying her work to the era’s aesthetic.

Why This Collection Feels Like a Return to Basics

The Dune Chair stands out as the most technically demanding piece in the collection. At first glance, its curves appear simple, but achieving the right balance between sculptural form and understated elegance required multiple rounds of prototyping. Samuel described the process as iterative, refining the silhouette until it felt organic rather than deliberate. This attention to detail extends to the materials and textures used throughout the collection, where handcrafted elements—like ceramic inlays—contrast with sleeker, more refined pieces.

Samuel’s design philosophy leans toward botanical motifs, but with an abstracted, almost wild quality rather than traditional floral patterns. For color, she favors oxblood tones, which she calls rich yet unpretentious, pairing them seamlessly with wood. Ceramic has become a signature material in her recent work, bringing a tactile, handmade quality to interiors that feels intentional rather than forced.

The Pier Side Table resonates most with Samuel personally. Its clean lines and natural materials reflect her design values, while the handmade ceramic eye inlays add an unexpected artistic touch. “It has a lot of the things I’m continually drawn to,” she noted, emphasizing simplicity, natural materials, and subtle artistic gestures.

A Shift Toward Eclectic, Layered Spaces

Samuel’s inspiration isn’t confined to a single discipline. Instead, she draws from artists and makers who blur boundaries between crafts, such as Steven Haulenbeek, Misha Kahn, and Jay Sae Jung Oh, whose work she featured in her first gallery show. This cross-pollination of influences is evident in her approach to interiors, where she avoids uniformity in favor of tension, pairing old with new, refined with handmade, and unexpected art with simple furniture.

Her own childhood experiences shaped her design sensibilities. Samuel attended Lake Hills Elementary, a low, sprawling school built in the 1970s with an open, pod-based layout integrated into wooded dune land. The school’s emphasis on volume, connection, and environment over decoration left a lasting impression. “I think that early experience of architecture being integrated with environment, and spaces being defined through volume and connection rather than just decoration, really stayed with me,” she said.

When it comes to storage, Samuel rejects rigid organizing systems in favor of functionality. The Fort Cabinet, for instance, is designed to hide the clutter of daily life while remaining a beautiful object. She stores everything from electronics to art supplies inside, prioritizing practicality over aesthetic constraints. “I’ve stopped trying to organize according to where something is supposed to go and instead think about where we naturally reach for it,” she said.

The Calliope chandelier, part of her collaboration with Lulu & Georgia, is another piece she’s eager to incorporate into her own home. Alongside art, her constant focus, it represents the kind of unexpected, handcrafted elements she values. Samuel and her husband recently purchased a James R. Bronkema mid-century modern home, which she plans to restore to its original character while updating it for contemporary living.

What This Means for Home Design in 2024

Samuel’s work suggests a broader trend in home design: a move away from monolithic, themed interiors toward spaces that feel lived-in and intentionally layered. The appeal lies in the contrast, between handmade and mass-produced, vintage and new, structured and organic. This approach doesn’t reject trends so much as it recontextualizes them, allowing each piece to tell its own story while contributing to a cohesive whole.