Peter Shire

Peter Shire was born in 1947 in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, where he lives and works. He studied ceramics at the Chouinard Institute before opening his own studio in 1972. Inspired by Bauhaus, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, Shire’s work aims to bridge the gap between art and industrial design. His works attracted the attention of Ettore Sottsass, who invited him to collaborate with the Memphis Group, for which he designed two of the most iconic products: the Brazil table (1981) and the Bel Air armchair (1982). In the 1980s Shire began to produce furniture and objects in glass and metal.  

His work can be found in several museum collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the MAD Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

Shire has described his work as his visualization of what could happen if you could throw geometric objects up in the air, allowing them to magically come together as a teapot, a vase, a chair, or a table.