April, 2022 – Emily Appenzeller was at a crossroads in her life, making art and music while assisting a local furniture maker in Los Angeles. She came to Maine in 2017 for the Furniture Intensive, with the main goals of taking a reprieve from bustling city life and to strengthen skills as a maker so as to be taken more seriously in a male-dominated field.

Previous chapters in her life include graduating with degrees in painting and sculpture, being a guitar player and lead singer in a couple of bands, and producing audience-interactive kinetic sculptures. Emily also worked as an art handler at the LA Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) which inspired her to pursue furniture making.


Those three months in Maine for the Furniture Intensive have turned into years, and today Emily says she’s quite content making cabinets and furniture, living and working just down the road from CFC. She shares that the drive to prove herself was what was actually keeping her back, and she’s “found patience, a trust in myself and all things, and a temperament that actuates a happy life.” Emily’s art, music, designs, and furniture may be found at emilyappenzeller.com.


