The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts

Sam Maloof, b 1916- d 2009
5131 Carnelian Street, Alta Loma, CA 91701 - view on Google Maps
909-980-0412
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Woodworker Sam Maloof is best-known for creating elegantly shaped and sculpted California Modern art furniture, but his hand-made home is perhaps his most extraordinary work of art. In a visit to the Maloof, one sees the work of a celebrated American craftsman, and experiences his mastery of light, color, and materials that create a beautiful, serene and inspirational residential environment. Visitors discover Maloof’s own work and his art collections, his gardens, and the natural landscape that inspired his greatest work.

ABOUT

Begun in 1952 as a modest California ranch-style home to be shared by an aspiring woodworker, his wife, and their young son, Sam Maloof’s hand-made residence grew as his reputation and resources grew. During the family’s half-century of occupancy, the house evolved into an amazing showpiece befitting a celebrated artist. In addition to making his own art, Sam stood at the center of a robust community of Pomona Valley artists, whose works were bought, traded and/or collected among themselves, making the Maloof Collection into an extensive repository of California modern art works in wood, ceramics, fiber, paintings and other media.

Saved from the path of an interstate highway project, the landmark house was relocated and painstakingly reassembled at its present site, where it now stands protected in perpetuity. Today visitors experience serene and colorful surroundings that are virtually unchanged from when the artist and his family were in residence. The contents of the home, including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and many fine examples of Sam’s celebrated furniture, shed light on the journey of an artist who pursued his dreams with imagination and passion.

The son of Lebanese immigrants, Sam Maloof was born in 1916 in Chino, California, and educated in the local public schools. Self-taught in woodworking and proud of his craft, Sam built his career at a time when California’s reputation for creativity, innovation and great possibilities allowed a young man to follow a passion for woodworking to the heights of national and international acclaim.

Sam Maloof’s friends, visitors and clients included artists, presidents, celebrities and others who appreciated Sam’s mastery of woodworking and recognized his journey as a quintessential expression of the American dream. Though Sam became widely recognized for his genius as a craftsman and artist, he always preferred to be known more humbly as a woodworker. And wherever he traveled, he always returned from his journeys to the home and workshop where his life was centered, and the smell of sawdust was in the air.

Did you know...?

Sam was offered millions of dollars to license his furniture designs for mass production, but he always refused.

SPECIAL RESOURCES

  • William & Barbara Hanna Archival Conservatory

  • Maloof wood storage barns

  • Maloof collection offers opportunity to study original works by artists including Maria Martinez, Millard Sheets, Harrison McIntosh, Paul Soldner, Bob Stocksdale, Milford Zornes, Phil Dike, Emil Kosa, Kay Sekimachi, Tony Abeyta, Peter Voulkos, Ramos Martinez, Otto Natzler and many others.

WHAT TO DO HERE

  • Guided Tours include Maloof residence and workshop.
  • 5+ acre site includes garden, trails, and sculpture.
  • Original and touring art exhibitions.
  • Sam Maloof Woodworkers Inc. shop and showroom.
  • Joe and Vi Jacobs Education Center.

YOU CAN ALSO SEE THE ART HERE:

  • Smithsonian Institute/Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
  • Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA