American furniture designer Paul R. Evans (May, 20, 1931 - March 7, 1987) is most famous for his 1970s sculpted metal furniture for American manufacturer Directional Furniture. Before his fame, Evans began his design career studying in many well-known institutions including Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (1952). He then moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania where he worked with his friend and mentor Phillip Lloyd Powell, who was himself a student of the famed Japanese-American furniture designer George Nakashima.
By the late 1950s Evans began his sculpting career by making copper chests. Shortly after he began experimenting with sculpted steel-front cabinets that displayed a unique welding style. In 1961 Evans and Powell had a shared exhibition at America House at the Museum of Contemporary Art, now named the Museum of Arts & Design.
In 1964 Evans started work with Directional Furniture as the designer for furniture manufacture. ADuring his time with Directional, Evans introduced three popular series of furniture lines: the Argente, Sculpted Bronze, and Cityscape Series. All of these pieces are highly collectible now, which can be attributed to the fact that every piece is made by hand, finished by hand, supervised by the artist at each step of production, one piece at a time, and nearly all the pieces are signed. Paul Evans set the precedent for much of the limited edition furniture of today.