From artworks and chairs to architecture, landscaping and interior design, Michael Boyd’s devotion to the principles of modernism is comprehensive. An artist and musician, he acquired his expertise as a collector, surrounding himself with rare and beautiful finds. His immersion in the philosophy and creativity of the masters inspired him to restore a succession of classic modern houses, curate exhibitions, create a versatile range of furniture and rugs, and design sculptural gardens.
Millennium Modern: Living in Design, his book on Lund Humphries, details his work across the first two decades of the new millennium and reflects his belief that the tenets of modernism – honesty and simplicity – developed more than a century ago, are equally relevant to our pluralistic age. In contrast to the pioneers who wanted to do away with the past, his creations are deeply rooted in the history of design.
Boyd’s work across disciplines reveals his holistic design practice from his discovery of design classics in flea markets, to his own furniture designs and rugs, which feature in residential interiors, hotels and museums, through to his sensitive restoration of houses by Paul Rudolph and Oscar Niemeyer, Richard Neutra and Craig Ellwood, and the sculptural landscapes he designed to enhance these residences, as well as masterpieces by John Lautner.
His most notable restorations include Paul Rudolph’s Rudolph Townhouse (1975) in New York City, Craig Ellwood’s Steinman House, 1956, in Malibu, and Oscar Niemeyer’s only North American built work besides the U.N. Complex, the Strick House (1964) in Santa Monica.
Boyd is the founder of and designer for PLANEfurniture, a line of architectural furnishings that has been selected for the permanent collections of SFMOMA, The Palm Springs Museum, and the UCSB Gebhard Art + Architecture Archives.
He is an internationally renowned collector and a widely published expert on 20th century design and post-war Modernism. He has contributed numerous essays to publications on modernism, including The Migration of Modernism: From Turn-of-the-Century Vienna to Mid-Century Los Angeles for Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Mid-Century (Prestel, 2007), Chasing Modern: Ideal and Object for Modernist Paradise: Niemeyer House/Boyd Collection (Rizzoli, 2007), R.M. Schindler: Furniture as Micro-Architecture, for RM Schindler: The Gingold Commissions (William Stout Publishers, 2007). Boyd is featured in Collecting Design by Adam Lindeman (Taschen, 2011). On Restoring Modernism: the Purist and the Pragmatist for Mid-Century Modern Complete (Thames and Hudson, 2014). He is editor of Making LA Modern | Craig Ellwood | Myth, Man, Designer (Rizzoli, 2018).
Exhibitions:
- Sitting on the Edge: Modernist Design from the Collection of Michael and Gabrielle Boyd, SFMOMA
- Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury, Orange County Museum of Art, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Oakland Museum of California, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin
- RM Schindler: the Gingold Commissions, Los Angeles Modern Auctions/Reform Gallery
- Gunta Stolzl: Bauhaus Weaver, Christopher Farr, London/Los Angeles
- Venus Revisited: the photography of Wingate Paine, Arch Modernist Gallery, Venice, CA.
Historical Modern Architecture Restoration + Landscape Design Projects:
- Craig Ellwood Steinman House, 1956
- John Lautner Chemosphere Complex, 1960
- Oscar Niemeyer Strick House, 1964
- Thornton Ladd House for a Writer, 1965
- Paul Rudolph Rudolph Penthouse, 1975
- Richard Neutra Kaufman House, 1937
- John Lautner Harvey House, 1950
- RM Schindler McAlmon House, 1935
- Richard Neutra Wirin House, 1949
- John Lautner Foster House, 1950
- Richard Neutra Sten-Frenke House, 1934
- Quincy Jones Nordlinger House #1, 1948
- William Wurster Helen D. Rich House, 1940
New Architecture Projects:
- WENDE INSTITUTE, Upcoming
- Glorya Kaufman Cultural Center, 2024 (with AUX Architecture)
- Shed House, 2016, (with Laurel Broughton)
- WENDE MUSEUM, 2016 (with Christian Kienapfel)
PLANEfurniture Exhibitions:
- types + prototypes, Edward Cella Art + Architecture, Los Angeles, 2012, featuring furniture and objects
- re:Visions, Hedge Gallery, San Francisco, 2014, featuring furniture and objects
- C O N T I N U U M, JF Chen, Los Angeles, 2015,
Group Exhibitions:
- New West Coast Design, Museum of Craft + Design, San Francisco, 2012
- (dec)curation, R Gallery, New York, 2014
PLANEfurniture in Institutional Permanent Collections:
- SFMOMA
- Palm Springs Museum
- Art Museum, UCSB, Gebhard Archives, (ADC) Architecture + Design Collection