Casey McCafferty has carved out a place for himself in a corner of design where furniture, sculpture, and craft intersect. While the majority of his pieces are functional, many don’t appear that way. Cabinets, for example, almost taunt users, daring them to figure out how to open the doors. Screens could be mistaken for a super-sophisticated Flintstones-style climbing wall. Seating doesn’t seem to encourage lingering.
McCafferty’s pieces are muscular, animated, and somewhat unruly, which sets the self-taught artist apart from the rest of an increasingly crowded field. “What you are seeing is what is actively alive in my head when I’m carving,” he explains. “I’m not trying to recreate something; it’s a real thing happening.”
Casey McCafferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Casey McCafferty
Sculptural wall panel by Casey McCafferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Casey McCafferty
Gaeta cabinet by Casey McCafferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Gallery Fumi
McCafferty is currently creating a series of about 40 “somewhat functional” boxes for The Rooms, an art and design fair taking place in Brussels next month. Not one to sit still, he’s also tinkering with motorcycles and minibikes while his three children (ages 1,4, and 7) often visit the shop. Visitors to his home are greeted by a large, sculptural wooden wall panel with protruding hands, that surprisingly has yet to garner any comments. “I’m always surprised there’s no reaction,” he says. “Like this is something they see all the time.”
Sculptural table in blue by Casey McCarfferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Casey McCafferty
McCafferty was raised on Staten Island, in the same house his father, a New York City firefighter, grew up in. He insists that “the most important factor in how I developed into who I am today is that my parents said that as long as you weren’t getting into trouble, go outside and come back when it’s dark out.” He would often visit his father in the firehouse and, on occasion, was allowed to spend the night there. His dad was a DIY-type, and routinely enlisted a young Casey to help—including on a tree fort in the back yard. “My dad made me feel like I did a lot of the work,” he recalls.
Cairn table by Casey McCafferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Casey McCafferty
Claro walnut and stone totem by Casey McCafferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Casey McCafferty
After attending Wagner College in Staten Island, where he played rugby, McCafferty spent four years at Citigroup before moving to Los Angeles with his wife. The intention was to establish residency in California and attend the College of the Redwoods. He never enrolled; his outreach to interior designers was successful enough that he had a steady stream of custom work. But he kept making what he describes as “funky” pieces in his free time. An interior designer inquired about one of those designs, and he soon found himself on a new, more outrageous path.
Sculptural bench by Casey McCafferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Gallery Fumi
A piece in progress.
Photo: Courtesy of Casey McCafferty
Today, McCafferty is back on the East Coast with a clientele that includes the likes of Kelly Wearstler, Kelly Behun, Pierre Yovanovitch, and Rockwell Group. He jokes that “people think that I just carve everything from a giant tree, but everything I build, before I carve it, is basically giant chunky furniture.” His 6,000 square-foot shop includes two employees, two dogs, and a small foundry for casting knobs and such. Wood pieces, especially cabinets, have become much more intricate, with carving on every possible surface, inside and out, and can take as long as four weeks to make.
Cairn chair by Casey McCafferty.
Photo: Courtesy of Gallery Fumi
McCafferty at work.
Photo: Courtesy of Casey McCafferty
A gorgeous wooden vanity, posted on his Instagram, have many re-thinking stone—a material the artisan has embraced just as long as wood. Yet he wishes his abstract sculptures got more attention. “It’s the passion of sculpting, without the time pressure,” he muses. “When I hit the metal chisel with a metal hammer, it feels good in my hands and has a really nice sound. Almost like ASMR.”