SAM MALOOF was born in Chino, California, of Lebanese parents. He embarked on his career in furniture in 1948 and in 1959 and 1963 was sent to Iran, Lebanon, and El Salvador as a woodworking design consultant. He has exhibited actively and widely throughout the United States and also in the Vatican. His pieces are in numerous American museum collections and in the VicePresident's house and the White House. He has received many awards, given workshops, and has been a consultant and exhibition juror. He has been featured in articles and books and is the subject of the films Sam Maloof: Woodworker, by Maynard Orme, and Sam MaloofThe Rocking Chair, by Bob Smith. He is now a National Trustee and Chairman of the Academy of Fellows of the American Craft Council and a member of the Board of Directors of the World, Craft Congress.

JONATHAN FAIRBANKS is a former associate curator of the Winterthur Museum and a cofounder of the American Prints Conference. He has been Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, since 1971.