A piece with punch: Alumnus launches design career
Sculptural furniture is latest foray into arts for former Jayhawk athlete.
“Knuckles Console,” a collectible design piece by Justin Wesley, c’14, was featured at the Design Miami fair in Los Angeles in May. The wood-and-lacquer side table, inspired by brass knuckles, is the first work created by the former KU basketball power forward, who is beginning to make a name for himself as a designer of sculptural furniture after briefly pursuing a career in fashion design. Represented by the Wexler Gallery in New York City, where he lives, the self-taught designer is developing his first collection of high-end, limited-edition furniture (featuring a credenza, lounge chair, cabinet, floor lamp and bar stool) for debut this fall.
“From the outside looking in, it would be called an overnight success, since I only signed a contract last fall and ended up going to Design Miami less than six months later,” says Wesley, who’s also known to KU fans for portraying Wilt Chamberlain in Oscar-winning KU film professor Kevin Willmott’s 2014 movie “Jayhawkers.” Of his burgeoning design career, he adds, “I think I got lucky, but I also had the resolve to stay with it and weather the many, many storms to get here.”
Steven Hill is associate editor of Kansas Alumni magazine.
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