The 2015 John D. Mineck Furniture Fellowship was recently awarded to Sarah Marriage, a furniture maker from Hoboken, N.J. The $25,000 fellowship is awarded annually to one artist and is administered by the Society of Arts and Crafts.

In 2007, the foundation was created to award charitable and educational gifts that reflect Mineck’s interests and values.

Marriage was born in Tulsa, Okla., and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She studied architecture at Princeton University and fine woodworking at the College of the Redwoods. She will use her funding to support the creation of “A Workshop of Their Own,” a space where female furniture makers can come together in a supportive environment.

“Obviously her work is stunning, but I think a big part of the reason she won the award was because of what she wanted to use the award money for. The concept for a workshop for women was something that really inspired the judges. This idea of giving women makers a space to create is something that we wanted to support and $25,000 goes a long way in fulfilling that mission,” Society of Arts and Crafts marketing and communications manager Tess Mattern says.

“It is really amazing that Marriage is the fourth woman to win the fellowship. There have been three men, so it tips the scale in a field that’s perceived to be so male-dominated. Her project is also going to help move that momentum in the direction that supports female makers.” 

This article originally appeared in the October 2015 issue.