Garry Knox Bennett (October 8, 1934 – January 28, 2022) was an American woodworker, metalworker, and artist who became a titan of the post-war American studio furniture movement. Known for his whimsical, inventive, and iconoclastic sensibility, Bennett challenged conventional practices by blurring the lines between fine art and functional design from his workshop and studio in Oakland, California.

Born a third-generation Alamedan, Bennett trained in painting and sculpture at the California College of Arts and Crafts in the late 1950s. His early career took a decidedly unconventional turn when he founded Squirkenworks in 1965, a successful metal-plating business that produced jewelry, peace signs, and “roach clips” for the 1960s counterculture. He often fondly recalled this era, which served as the financial springboard for pursuing his full-time art career.

Bennett transitioned to furniture making in the 1970s, preferring the term “furniture maker” because, as he put it, he had not “sold his soul to wood”. His work was characterized by a fearless use of color, playful forms, and unconventional materials, including aluminum, glass, plastic laminates, and steel, often incorporating found or re-purposed objects. Instead of beginning with sketches, Bennett worked intuitively from the materials, allowing each shape to inform the next, much like a painter constructing a composition.

Ever the provocateur, Bennett burst into the woodworking world in 1979 with his most famous piece, the Nail Cabinet. This six-foot-tall, exquisitely crafted padauk cabinet featured a large, bent nail bludgeoned into its face, an act that sparked debate and challenged the “preciousness” often associated with fine woodworking. Critic Arthur Danto famously called the work “philosophizing with a hammer”.

Bennett’s prolific, boundary-busting designs—particularly his clever interpretations of chairs—made him one of the most influential furniture makers of his time. His work is part of permanent collections worldwide, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His contributions were honored with awards such as the Award of Distinction from The Furniture Society (2004) and the James Renwick Alliance Master of the Medium Award (2011). A “giant of a man” and “joker extraordinaire,” Bennett lived above his studio in Oakland with his wife of 62 years, Sylvia, influencing how the world views the Modern Craft Movement until his death in 2022.