preserving a legacy of
family and art
As Samson and Laura Berman’s daughters, we are interested in documenting Samson’s life and work, preserving his legacy, and sharing it with others who may be interested. Samson was recognized as an important designer during his lifetime, receiving considerable press coverage and inclusions in several books (see Archives). However, since his death in 1980, little information has been available, and a limited number of original pieces come up for auction each year.
Carrie and Susan, 2022 / Berman family, 1960
The Gallery on this website highlights both historical work and original pieces in homes today. A number of the pieces shown are from our homes—pieces we inherited from our family home in Queens, NY. We grew up surrounded by the beauty of this furniture, with deep appreciation for modern design and our parents’ creativity and entrepreneurial drive. We thought that everyone lived this way!
Both of us followed in our parent’s footsteps, first by attending The Cooper Union—Susan went to the School of Architecture and Carrie to the School of Art—and then pursued creatively-driven professional careers. Susan first worked for the architect Richard Meier, then for multi-disciplinary design/marketing firms, and after that she founded and successfully sold Underline Communications, a marketing agency with blue-chip clients.
Carrie studied graphic design at The Cooper Union, and had a professional graphic design career, beginning at Knoll International. Following that she established her own design practice, and later founded a fine arts and design enterprise, Studio Mosaica where she now paints and creates original abstract work for a loyal, enthusiastic following.
With time has come greater perspective and renewed appreciation for what we grew up with. In recent years, we have organized both our family’s and our parents’ professional archive. We found our mother’s beautifully handwritten schoolbooks before she was forced to leave Germany. We pored over our father’s mid-1930’s photographs of his cabinetmaking apprenticeship in Germany. We discovered our grandfather’s Reichpasse—the passport issued by the Nazis—that enabled our mother’s family to leave Germany. These artifacts and photographs document entirely different lives.
Despite their challenging personal histories, Samson and Laura made a new life together in New York. They were optimistic and energetic, interested in the best of post-war America. They made the most of their circumstances and built a successful design business from nothing. They created a home and world that was centered on creativity, innovation, and hard work.
We appreciate that we were given an extraordinary gift by our parents. We are now fully committed to telling the story of our parents’ lives and celebrating their work.
Susan and Carrie