Sam Maloof

Sam Maloof
Born	January 24, 1916(1916-01-24)
Died	May 21, 2009(2009-05-21) (aged 93)
Residence	Alta Loma, California
Occupation	Woodworker
Spouse	Alfreda Louise Ward (1948-her death), Beverly Wingate Maloof (2001–his death)

Sam Maloof rocker

The street-side view of the Sam Maloof house

The rear of the Sam Maloof site showing the roofs of his shops and museum. Note the roof lines.

Sam Maloof (born Samuel Solomon Maloof, a member of the large Maalouf family) (January 24, 1916 - May 21, 2009) was a furniture designer and woodworker. He was born in Chino, California, USA, to parents who emigrated to the United States from Lebanon. He attended high school first at Chaffey High School in Ontario, California, where he took his first woodworking class and was recognized by his art teacher as having extraordinary skill. Later he attended Chino High School. Shortly after completing high school, he began working in the art department of the Vortox Manufacturing Company in Claremont, California. He was drafted into the United States Army on October 11, 1941. After serving in the Pacific theater and then transferring to a post in Alaska, Maloof left the army in 1945 to return to Southern California.

Maloof married Alfreda Louise Ward on June 27, 1948 and the couple moved into a house at 921 Plaza Serena, Ontario, California where Sam set up a furniture workshop in the garage. Mostly from necessity, Maloof designed and built a suite of furniture for his home using salvaged materials. Commissioned pieces followed, and from 1949-1952 Maloof continued working in the garage of his Ontario home. In 1953, Maloof relocated to Alta Loma, California where he built a studio to continue making furniture.

Maloof's work is in the collections of several major American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 1985 he was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" grant. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan have both owned Maloof rockers.

Sam Maloof resided in Alta Loma, California, a neighborhood community in the City of Rancho Cucamonga. On a former citrus orchard are his home, his furniture shops and the site of the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts.

He was described by the Smithsonian Institution as "America's most renowned contemporary furniture craftsman" and People magazine dubbed him "The Hemingway of Hardwood." But his business card always said "woodworker." "I like the word," he told a Los Angeles Times reporter, his eyes brightening behind large, owl-eyed glass frames. "It's an honest word."

In 1985 Mr. Maloof became the first craftsman to receive a MacArthur fellowship; and despite such recognition, he declined to identify himself as an artist. His autobiography was titled Sam Maloof: Woodworker.

References

• Head, Jeffrey. "The Collector & The Craftsman," Palm Springs Modernism (February 2006), pp. 34–35.
• Maloof, Sam. (1983). Sam Maloof: Woodworker. Tokyo: Kodansha International. 10-ISBN 0-870-11910-9; 13-ISBN 978-0-870-11910-1; OCLC 9646251

External links

• "Sam Maloof". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smithsonian Institution. http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/whc/whc-noframe.html?/exhibitions/online/whc/maloof.html. 
• "A Visit with Sam Maloof" - D.J. Marks
• Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts
• Gallery of Pictures of Projects Inspired by Sam Maloof showcased in Fine Woodworking magazine
• Video Library: A Woodworking Experience with Sam Maloof - at the Wood Working Channel
• Sam Maloof dies at 93; designer and builder of simple, beautiful furniture-Los Angeles Times
• Sam Maloof dies at 93; A look inside his workshop
• Sam Maloof: 1916-2009 Fine Woodworking magazine's tribute to Sam Maloof with photos and video

• Location of Maloof home, workshop, and foundation 34°9′40.7″N 117°36′57.2″W (34.1613, -117.6159)