Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Furniture
First Advisor
Christopher Specce
Second Advisor
Jonah Takagi
Third Advisor
CW&T
Abstract
The designed object communicates an idea. Might that idea be an insight? This thesis seeks an ambient furniture of durable insight: objects that reward attention without demanding it, cultivating the conditions for a contemplative practice of everyday life.
Design is the materialization of mind. Through the conception and creation of things, thoughts are given form. Of all forms of thought, insight is the most precious. Insight contains within it the seed of transformation: to see into what was previously opaque.
Insight is empirical. It cannot be directly transmitted. It must be observed first-hand, rediscovered by each successive generation and translated into forms that are legible to the present.
The work presented here explores how furniture might serve as a medium of insight. Through formal clarity, material unity, restraint, and openness, ambient furniture does not declare meaning, but makes meaningful ways of being in the world more available.
Recommended Citation
Goulet, Andrew T., "Ambient Furniture" (2026). Masters Theses. 1613.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1613
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.