Bruce Gray? No Way!
Bruce Gray is probably more artist than designer, but his stuff is crazy and I like it. Gray's work explores a wild range of form, materials, and color.
For example:
Aluminum "Paper Airplanes" commissioned installation in Little Rock National Airport
Painted Metal Wall Sculpture, welded aluminum and paint. (Woah! Me gustalo!)
"Intersection A" Table, distressed steel and glass.. and beauty.
Chairs, and benches, and screens, oh my!
"Dead Dog 'Cartoon Character' Humorous Function Art Table Sculpture" Welded steel, paint, and glass
Although not everything he makes is necessarily appealing to me, I really admire Bruce Gray's enthusiasm and fearlessness with his work. His use of color and form, and a range of purely comedic pieces, shows that he truly enjoys his work, while the beautiful and elegant pieces he produces exemplify his undeniable skill.
Bruce is an inspiration in that he really does what he loves, how he wants, and his practiced eye and skill draw people right in. He's won a bunch of awards and had some of his work featured in various movies and magazines. His website design is kind of awful (http://www.brucegray.com/index.html), but I even kind of like that about him too, because that crazy thing has had no impact on his massive success. Go Bruce!