The process of creation has always played a role in Dakota Jackson’s life. The son of professional magicians, Jackson witnessed the engagement of human activity in artistic creation from an early age. He went on to create his own art – first on the stage, then in the home space, and eventually, everywhere. Collaborating with celebrities and premier designers, Jackson has now crafted furniture for over five decades. In 2000, he designed a piano for Steinway and Sons and, many piano designs later, plans to launch his own piano company next year. This iconic creator is this week’s Maker Monday: introducing Dakota Jackson.
Andrew Joseph: What is something you hope to see trending in design in the future?
Dakota Jackson: A large chorus of designers each in their own voice.
AJ: How would you define your work in three words?
DJ: Kill for beauty.
AJ: If you weren’t a Maker, you’d be a ….?
DJ: Concert pianist.
AJ: What would you like to be remembered for?
DJ: Being a teacher fostering the next generation.
AJ: If you could guest star on any TV show -on or off-air- what show would you guest star in?
DJ: “The Open Mind” – with Alexander Hefner- a thoughtful excursion into the world of ideas across politics, media, science, technology, the arts and all realms of civic life.
AJ: What’s one thing people don’t know about you?
DJ: Although my wife thinks not, I think I’m pretty funny.
AJ: What would be the name of your debut album?
DJ: In the Realm of the Senses.
AJ: What are three things you can’t live without?
DJ: My family, my Cross Pen, and a piece of paper
AJ: What is the last book you read?
DJ: “Snow” by the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk.
AJ: Best advice you’d give your teenage self?
DJ: Look before you leap.
About The Maker | Dakota Jackson directs his House of Design, and an in-house furniture and piano co-manufacturing facility, built on the credo of beauty, technology and unparalleled craftsmanship of the highest caliber. With furnishings custom-made by artisans worldwide, Dakota Jackson caters to international clients in the residential and commercial sectors and the cruise industry along with product design and more exotic commissions e.g. award-winning houses of worship.
Dakota Jackson’s 20 year association with Steinway and Sons placed Jackson at the forefront of the rarefied industry of instrument design and engineering culminated in the 2019 international premiere of the Lang Lang Black Diamond Concert Grand Piano, an edition of 96 pianos with sales of the instrument exceeding $60,000,000, with Jackson as the preeminent designer, engineer and co-manufacturer. In 2023 Dakota Jackson will launch the eponymous, “Dakota Jackson Piano Company;” an international organization featuring a broad range of upright and concert grand instruments using state of the art techniques and composite sound enhancing materials for both the mass market and a more focused group of limited edition masterworks.
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