Bio
Esi Q. Hutchinson grew up in Suriname, South America, where she made her first stool at six—with plenty of help and encouragement from a family friend, the wonderful man who kindly made sure the stool had four legs…and that Esi kept all ten fingers. After graduating in 2020 from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Furniture Design, Esi began working at Folkwear Patterns, a small indie sewing pattern and fabric company, as a Creative Assistant. While working she is currently furthering her education at Haywood Community College’s Professional Crafts Program in Wood, where she is not only refining her woodworking skills but also acquiring the skills to make a living in the handcrafted woodworking industry.
Artist Statement
My work highlights the complex inner worlds of emotion, driven by my care for others and my need to nurture myself. I seek to be understood and recognized for the feelings that guide my practice—especially struggle, pain, and resilience. As a woodworker, I translate my internal sentiments into form. I create functional and sculptural works guided by intersecting geometries softened by organic lines. These compositions embody the balance between strength, vulnerability, and intricacy: nest-like structures, angled yet softened, embedded within one another. The layered nature of my designs reflects the layered nature of my identity and experiences—born in Ghana, raised in Suriname and South Africa, and now living in North Carolina. Each place has offered opposing beliefs, environments, and ways of life that continue to inform my sense of structure, material, and belonging. Through this ongoing dialogue between material and emotion, I explore what it means to build, to care, and to find resilience in interconnected forms.
