Paul Tuttle Designs

"Paul Tuttle Designs" surveys Tuttle's 50-year career, primarily as a furniture designer, showcasing more than 60 examples of seating and tables, and highlighting five homes he designed in Santa Barbara early in his career. Paul Tuttle's (1918-2002) impressive oeuvre is noted for its combination of gorgeous woods with materials such as steel, glass, cane, and upholstery. Regardless of how aesthetically beautiful or freshly inventive his creations are, they were always intended to be functional. Tuttle stands out among mid-to-late twentieth-century designers in his avoidance of trends or styles and his commitment to solving design problems in an original way. Working within a modernist tradition, Tuttle's work is distinguished by an elegance of line, purity of materials, fascination with structure, and delight in small details. Although crafted with precision and taste, his furniture often exudes a distinctive quirky playfulness that reflects the designer's belief that a sense of fun should be part of a work's purpose.