Jason Roskey grew up in Texas in a middle class, blue-collar family, but even at a young age he was inspired by art and architecture. When he was in elementary school and went on field trips to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, he was one of the few students interested in the Louis Kahn-designed building and the works inside it.
Roskey later went to college and envisioned a more traditional path for himself. “I didn’t know I could pursue a creative life and career,” he says. “I spent years doing business-type things to make a living. It wasn’t until I moved to New York that I really began discovering furniture and interiors.”
A self-taught woodworker, Roskey built custom pieces by hand in Brooklyn. His practice evolved, and he founded Fern in 2009. Today he operates the company from a studio and workshop in Hudson, New York, continuing the region’s long tradition of quality furniture production. Roskey first designs each item, which is then fabricated in-house by a team of skilled makers.
The studio now offers lighting, which is a natural complement to the sculptural tables and chairs. Fiberglass and hand-laced goat parchment on select fixtures are paired with bases of cast aluminum, blackened steel, and sand-cast bronze. This inaugural collection is now on view alongside signature furnishings in Junctions, the debut show at the Assembly Line Annex in Tribeca, a new exhibition space by General Assembly…