I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1946 and am the oldest of seven children. After 4 miserable years in the British Army I eventually made it to Aberdeen University and studied History and Sociology and wrote my Sociology thesis on the "Uses of humor and laughter in everyday social interactions". In 1978, after years of travel and impoverished artisanship making clothes, candles and leather goods, I came to the US to continue my studies in humor but the academic life was not for me and so at the age of 39 I started to teach myself upholstery to "dress up" our ugly furniture. This made perfect sense to me since my earliest childhood memories are about making things. I have always made things. My father was a plumber and could fix anything. His father was a ship builder so working with my hands was natural. With the amount of plastic models I made as a kid back in Scotland it's a wonder the glue didn't kill me. I even made my own embossed leather suitcase before coming to the USA in 1978. I have also, with my wife Kay's able help, refurbished our 120 year old house which was in sore need of care and attention when we bought it soon after marrying in 1982. We have a 21 year old daughter, Asia, who is presently in the BFA program in photography at Indiana University. Kay is a massage therapist . When not working we all love to travel.

How I got into this:

After years as a self taught upholsterer, and keeping very busy I had the great good fortune to meet Richard Sullivan. When I hired Richard I didn't realize who I had allowed into my life. He was a retired upholsterer just wanting to work a few days a week to help pay for his ailing wife's medicines . It soon became evident to me that he was a quiet unassuming master upholsterer who had been working and teaching upholstery for over 40 years. I was more than willing to become his apprentice even though I was the boss. Over the years I learned more from Richard than I can remember. He enabled me to become the skilled artisan I am today. Richard passed away a few years ago and I lost not only a teacher but a dear friend and one of the great practical jokers of all time. It was always a joy to be around him. Although I can thank Richard for my upholstery skill level I'm not sure who I can thank for the furniture I make. At its simplest what happened was that I simply started to play with the fabrics and the furniture slowly evolved in shape and color. I have a cabinet maker friend, John, who makes my furniture frames for me after I design them. I do all the rest of the work: the painting, springing, padding, cutting, piecing, sewing and eventual fabric application. I never know what a piece is going to look like ahead of time. The appearance just evolves over time. My main job is to stay focussed and let the fabrics guide me. It is a very meditative process which suits me. I work in a silent universe, no music, no radio, in a building which was once a church. I love music but it is too distracting to work with. I have no conscious influences in my work. There is no intelligent designer in my work, I just let each piece evolve. When I think it usually looks awful and needs to be taken apart and redone.

My major breakthrough, with respect to the look of my furniture, came many years ago while looking through a fabric book. I was suddenly confronted by this intensely vivid yellow velvet. The color was so strong and powerful it scared me. Up until that point there was no yellow in my work. Rather than be intimidated by a color I bought some of that yellow fabric and my color palette was immediately transformed. The yellow dragged in all the other fabrics I now adore. Now, I love yellow and have a hard time making furniture without it.

For many years I had a very successful upholstery business. However, I increasingly I wanted to "play" more and more with my own furniture. Eventually I started doing shows and that truly transformed my world. I discovered that people like my furniture style and wanted it in their homes. For that I am constantly thankful. Many years ago I realized that for me the thing that transcends humor and laughter is joy. I am so happy to have followed my bliss because in doing so I am constantly overjoyed and delighted by my work. I also love seeing the smiles my work brings to peoples' faces when they encounter it for the first time. I'm spreading my joy. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this but I often feel that I am the luckiest man in the world. I have a loving wife, a well balanced fun loving daughter and I get to go to my quiet studio and see what's going to manifest today. Life is good!

Robert Harman

Education

1977, Aberdeen University, Scotland. MA in Sociology.

1981, Indiana University, MS in Telecommunications

Special Exhibitions

Oct.2001- May 2002

Objects for Use: Handmade by Design. American Crafts Museum NYC. Show of finest in American crafts. Organized by Paul J. Smith of the American Crafts Museum in New York City

June 2002- June 2003.

The Right Stuff: A four city travelling exhibition of contemporary American upholstered furniture organized by The Furniture Society.