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Chair back table, 2018, Shota Yamaguchi
Via E.A.S.T.

East Austin Studio Tour 2019: 15 must-see designers

Finds for your home in your own backyard

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Chair back table, 2018, Shota Yamaguchi
| Via E.A.S.T.

Now in its 18th (!) year, the East Austin Studio Tour is an art party that never fails to please. Now that local artists and artisans are opening up their creative work spaces to the public for two E.A.S.T. weekends a year for the ever-expanding event, it can get a bit overwhelming to decide where to go and what to see.

To help with all that, we came up with a list of furniture and homeware designers that Curbed Austin readers will no doubt want to visit and visit with. Then, to make things even easier, we made a map of them.

Did we leave out one of your favorites? Let us know on the tipline or in the comments section below.

Map points are ordered north to south.

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Brenda Armistead at Cement Loop

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Armistead’s functional ceramics buck a few current trends—including minimalism and irony; instead she turns out fantasical, rich work, often with an aquatic theme.

Jay Jones at Cement Loop

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Jay Jones’s ceramics are witty, eye-catching, and sometimes a little pomo, for lack of a better term. His latest work “involves casting consumer products in ceramic and rebranding them with custom designs,” he explains; it can also involve some gorgeous glazing.

Daniel Rivera at Windsor Park Branch, Austin Public Library

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Rivera’s artist’s statement for the tour says his goal is to “convert non-precious materials into fine furniture objects, and his recent experiments with recycled materials have indeed yielded fine results. Also very exciting: Some of his work incorporates his dioramas and mixed-media narratives, which is the best.

Abby Ruston at the Cathedral

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Ruston’s artful fuses the natural world with modern design, for starters, and takes off in imaginative directions from there.

Kara Pendl at Springdale General

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Pend’s handmade Karacotta Ceramics pieces are exquisite, unique, and, yes, functional—meant for everyday use—although it would be hard to plate something as beautiful as her plates.

Eliana Bernard at Springdale General

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Bernard’s dinnerware and decor meet at the intersection of beautiful and functional. Her Marbled Collection features items that are made out of porcelain slip and marbled by hand, making each piece one of a kind. Check out her Christmas-tree ornaments, too.

Charlie Broadbent

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Broadbent’s sculptural furniture and decor has gravitas and utility, but it’s also sometimes whimsical and meant to evoke and inspire.

Zanny Cox at Canopy Austin

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Cox’s striking and sophisticated work is decorative art made with intent—to tell stories that preserve the history of handwoven textiles, exploring the boundaries of art, culture, and fashion.

Keith Kreeger at Canopy Austin

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Kreeger is a go-to choice, it’s true, and his dinnerware and other pieces can be found in fine restaurants, celebrity homes, and many, many other places—including his showroom. Still, we can’t resist calling more attention to his drop-dead gorgeous work and recommending you drop by to check out what’s new.

A&K Woodworking and Design

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Amanda McKeever and Khiem Nguyen’s small, local business is dedicated to the craft of fine woodworking and handmade goods. Made to last, their furniture and home wares are infused with care and style.

SmashHouse Design

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Cunning craftsmanship with an eye toward one-of-a-kind decor is SmashHouse’s specialty. The focus is on repurposing and revitalizing materials to create artful lighting fixtures, custom furniture, and accessories.

A bench made of a large, painted wood beam and rustic steel supports.
Blue Head Bed, SmashHouse Design
Via EAST

Anna Kehl

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Anna Kehl calls her modern quilts “functional art,” and it’s hard to disagree. Working with recycled materials and fabric as much as possible, Kehl makes most of her quilts with a domestic sewing machine in her home studio.

Abby Rose Mandel

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Mandel’s colorful, graphic porcelain pieces are fun and delightful as well as being functional.

Splinter Group

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This is the first E.A.S.T. show at the new Splinter Group warehouse, home of Macek Furniture and other makers of unique, exquisite pieces that have been recognized in Austin and around the world. Among its featured artists this year are Hawkeye Glenn, Philip Hernandez, Meghan Leighgeber, Hank Waddell, Jennifer Pritchard, Austin School of Furniture, and, of course, Macek himself.

Shota Yamaguchi at Toolmarks ATX

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Yamaguchi’s wood furniture is intended to become heirlooms—and surely will, due to the fine work and materials—but his designs are full of beautiful surprises and are anything but staid and traditional.

Brenda Armistead at Cement Loop

Armistead’s functional ceramics buck a few current trends—including minimalism and irony; instead she turns out fantasical, rich work, often with an aquatic theme.

Jay Jones at Cement Loop

Jay Jones’s ceramics are witty, eye-catching, and sometimes a little pomo, for lack of a better term. His latest work “involves casting consumer products in ceramic and rebranding them with custom designs,” he explains; it can also involve some gorgeous glazing.

Daniel Rivera at Windsor Park Branch, Austin Public Library

Rivera’s artist’s statement for the tour says his goal is to “convert non-precious materials into fine furniture objects, and his recent experiments with recycled materials have indeed yielded fine results. Also very exciting: Some of his work incorporates his dioramas and mixed-media narratives, which is the best.

Abby Ruston at the Cathedral

Ruston’s artful fuses the natural world with modern design, for starters, and takes off in imaginative directions from there.

Kara Pendl at Springdale General

Pend’s handmade Karacotta Ceramics pieces are exquisite, unique, and, yes, functional—meant for everyday use—although it would be hard to plate something as beautiful as her plates.

Eliana Bernard at Springdale General

Bernard’s dinnerware and decor meet at the intersection of beautiful and functional. Her Marbled Collection features items that are made out of porcelain slip and marbled by hand, making each piece one of a kind. Check out her Christmas-tree ornaments, too.

Charlie Broadbent

Broadbent’s sculptural furniture and decor has gravitas and utility, but it’s also sometimes whimsical and meant to evoke and inspire.

Zanny Cox at Canopy Austin

Cox’s striking and sophisticated work is decorative art made with intent—to tell stories that preserve the history of handwoven textiles, exploring the boundaries of art, culture, and fashion.

Keith Kreeger at Canopy Austin

Kreeger is a go-to choice, it’s true, and his dinnerware and other pieces can be found in fine restaurants, celebrity homes, and many, many other places—including his showroom. Still, we can’t resist calling more attention to his drop-dead gorgeous work and recommending you drop by to check out what’s new.

A&K Woodworking and Design

Amanda McKeever and Khiem Nguyen’s small, local business is dedicated to the craft of fine woodworking and handmade goods. Made to last, their furniture and home wares are infused with care and style.

SmashHouse Design

Cunning craftsmanship with an eye toward one-of-a-kind decor is SmashHouse’s specialty. The focus is on repurposing and revitalizing materials to create artful lighting fixtures, custom furniture, and accessories.

A bench made of a large, painted wood beam and rustic steel supports.
Blue Head Bed, SmashHouse Design
Via EAST

Anna Kehl

Anna Kehl calls her modern quilts “functional art,” and it’s hard to disagree. Working with recycled materials and fabric as much as possible, Kehl makes most of her quilts with a domestic sewing machine in her home studio.

Abby Rose Mandel

Mandel’s colorful, graphic porcelain pieces are fun and delightful as well as being functional.

Splinter Group

This is the first E.A.S.T. show at the new Splinter Group warehouse, home of Macek Furniture and other makers of unique, exquisite pieces that have been recognized in Austin and around the world. Among its featured artists this year are Hawkeye Glenn, Philip Hernandez, Meghan Leighgeber, Hank Waddell, Jennifer Pritchard, Austin School of Furniture, and, of course, Macek himself.

Shota Yamaguchi at Toolmarks ATX

Yamaguchi’s wood furniture is intended to become heirlooms—and surely will, due to the fine work and materials—but his designs are full of beautiful surprises and are anything but staid and traditional.