Self taught American designer Neal Small, revolutionized modern furniture with his use of plexi-glass, and other plastics, in his designs of chairs, lights, tables and many other sculptures and functional furniture. In the mid-60s he opened Neal Small Designs on West 24th Street in Chelsea, where he manufactured and sold his innovative products to Bloomingdale's and other leading retailers of the day, including B. Altman & Co, W & J Sloan and Scarabaeus. Throughout his career, Small has received 9 awards for Excellence of Design from Industrial Design Magazine, in conjunction with The Smithsonian Institution, the Brooklyn Museum and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Small's work is included in such prominent collections as The Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian Institution and the Walker Art Center.