In this week’s episode, Curious Objects’ host Ben Miller speaks with Sarah Margolis-Pineo about a turning chair prototype made in the Mount Lebanon Shaker community. But don’t sit in it. Looking like a Wendell Castle sculpture avant la lettre, its bird-bone-thin spindles and threaded metal swivel mechanism are too delicate to support the weight of a full-grown adult.
Sarah Margolis-Pineo is a curator and writer specializing in American design. She is an associate of John Keith Russell, a New York–based gallery dedicated to antique Shaker furniture, design, and fine craft. Previously, Sarah was curator of Hancock Shaker Village (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) and has held positions in the curatorial departments of the American Folk Art Museum (New York), Frye Art Museum (Seattle), Museum of Contemporary Craft (Portland), and Cranbrook Art Museum (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan).
