Biography & Projects

Keith Clayton is a Chicago-based studio furniture designer and fabricator who creates high-end contemporary furniture for private collectors. Keith’s work is primarily constructed of solid wood and veneers and are often accented with glass and stainless steel, which he welds and finishes himself. He is also a certified Corian fabricator, avid wood turner, experienced boat builder, and an accomplished product developer with multiple utility patents.

Keith holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA, 1998) degree in furniture design from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Prior to that, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA, 1995) in both sculpture and ceramics, with a minor in art history from Bradley University.

After graduating from RISD, Keith returned to his hometown of Chicago and worked as a studio assistant to Master Furniture Designer, Tim Cozzens. Over the next few years, Keith honed his skills under the watchful eye of one of the best in the business. 

In 2002, Keith opened Keith Clayton Furniture, Inc. and began designing and fabricating one-of-a-kind studio furniture rooted in his fine art and design background. His award-winning creations have been published in numerous books, design magazines, and newspaper articles and have been included in juried exhibitions throughout the country. Keith creates freestanding furniture, as well as custom built-ins, kitchens, media rooms and home offices for some of Chicago’s most prestigious and discerning clientele.

Keith’s extensive knowledge of and firsthand experience with construction techniques and materials, along with his unwavering attention to detail, recently led him to two major residential construction projects.

The first was the historically accurate interior transformation of a multifamily dwelling into a single family residence. The early 1880s brick home is located within a landmarked district of Chicago’s desirable East Lincoln Park neighborhood. One of the many fine details of this project was the recreation of trim, casings, and turned bullets to perfectly match the original millwork in the home.

For the landmarked façade, Keith had custom, decorative bricks made to match two original bricks, unearthed during the basement excavation, which had been identified in an historical photograph of the home’s exterior. A nine-foot, hand-chiseled limestone sill was also fabricated to replace one made of cast concrete, bringing the home’s ‘Chicago window’ (a configuration unique to Chicago) back to its former glory.

The second project was the complete exterior overhaul of a Streamline Moderne home that overlooks the shores of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana. Replacing the siding required custom milling knives to be made and thousands of linear feet of stock. Keith painstakingly recreated scalloped trim for all of the door and window headers based on one original piece that was still attached to the home. This is just one example of the level of commitment and details Keith brings to each and every project.

Currently, Keith is building a prefab, contemporary A-frame cabin he designed inside his studio. He plans to move it, in parts, to a wooded property in a neighboring state, with assembly and construction complete by fall of 2021. For the cabin’s interior, he envisions furniture and built-ins he designed, paired with his extensive collection of Danish modern and mid-century modern furniture and decorative objects. The cabin will also showcase original paintings, ceramics, and photographs from artists whose work he has collected throughout the years. This project has been a long time coming.