John Dickinson

John Dickinson was an influential American designer and decorator known for his bold, imaginative and often surreal approach to furniture and interior design. Renowned for blending traditional craftsmanship with eccentric modernism, Dickinson’s work set him apart from his contemporaries and left a lasting mark on 20th-century design.

Born in 1920, in Berkeley, California, Dickinson studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York, where he developed a fascination for historical styles of furniture. This interest informed much of his later work, but he filtered these classical influences through his own distinct, whimsical lens. While in New York, Dickinson worked for several furniture stores and decorating firms before settling in San Francisco, where he launched his own practice in 1956.

Dickinson quickly became the top decorator in San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s, known for creating interiors that mixed high drama with humour. His furniture designs, in particular, stood out for their sculptural qualities and unusual materials. He used plaster, metal and leather to craft pieces that often appeared as if they were artifacts from another world. Dickinson created the look of fabric draped over tables and consoles out of galvanised steel and brass — the juxtaposition of concept and material is one of his hallmarks. Other examples of Dickinson injecting whimsy into classic furniture designs include floor lamp with a plastered twig-like base and side tables with anthropomorphised feet as table legs.

Throughout his career, John Dickinson maintained a commitment to creating designs that were as functional as they were artistic. His ability to merge utility with aesthetic innovation earned him a dedicated following among collectors, designers and high-end clients, including a full-scale furniture collection commission from the president and CEO of Macy’s California Philip Schlein in 1977.

John Dickinson died in 1982, aged 63. Despite his relatively short career, his work remains highly collectible and influential today. His pieces can be found in both private collections and museums, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.