Theme: Design for Living

Entry Deadline: January 10, 2027

At its core, design is about how we shape the world around us. While Wharton Esherick is best known as a pioneering figure in American studio furniture and the contemporary craft movement, his work also belongs within a broader history of design.

For WEM’s Thirty-Third Annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition, Design for Living, we are reframing Esherick’s legacy through the lens of design. We invite contemporary makers to share works that incorporate wood and explore the relationships between people, objects, and the spaces they inhabit. How can creative work emerge from the realities of everyday life, including from the specific needs, desires, and experiences of those who live with art, craft, and design objects? How might an object change when it is designed with a particular body, place, or way of life in mind? How does your work respond to the realities of everyday life, or how might it help us envision new ways of living in the future?