He Sketched a Crib on a Napkin— Now He’s Changing How We Design Nurseries

For Storkcraft Creative Director Justin L. Segal, inspiration is everywhere. His award-winning Art of Nursery collection brings sculptural beauty, thoughtful craftsmanship, and a personal perspective to the spaces where parents spend so much of their time in those early days.

One of the collection’s signature designs began in an unexpected place— on a napkin, as he prepared to welcome his first child.

He sketched what would eventually become the Santorini Crib, a design inspired by the excitement of impending fatherhood and the beauty of the world around him.

“The Santorini resulted from a concoction of excitement for the fatherhood journey that lay ahead of me and a conscious effort to be present in the moment,” Segal tells Mini. “It wasn’t the result of setting out to introduce a new crib of a certain design and price point; it was the result of transposing the natural beauty of the world around us into a crib that would serve families in their most precious first moments.”

That spontaneous sketch would become one of the most celebrated designs in nursery furniture, earning recognition from Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards and the International Society of Furniture Designers’ Pinnacle Awards, among others.

It would also help establish a new creative direction for Storkcraft, a family-focused children’s furniture company founded in 1945, and inspire an entire collection that approaches nursery furniture through the lens of art, architecture, and everyday beauty.

A New Perspective on Nursery Design

Storkcraft has built its reputation around creating functional, quality-crafted furniture for growing families. But with its Art of Nursery collection, the company set out to explore the idea that a nursery can be just as thoughtfully designed as any other room in the home, without putting beautiful furniture out of reach for today’s parents.

“A nursery is unique in the sense that it’s a parent’s opportunity to paint their own canvas for their child’s very first personal space,” says Adam Segal, Justin’s brother and President and CEO of Storkcraft.

And while beautifully designed nursery furniture certainly exists, Adam recognized that many of the most aspirational collections come with price tags beyond the budgets of growing families.

“With Art of Nursery, we wanted to take aspirational craftsman, atelier furniture and make it attainable for families,” he explains. “I think there’s a certain magic to the nursery that can’t be seen and can only be felt. We wanted to capture that essence and share it.”

That philosophy is deeply rooted in Storkcraft’s identity as a family business. As the father of two daughters, Adam describes the company’s approach as “by family, for families,” with real parenting experiences informing the design and development of its products.

And while the collection is designed with real families in mind, its creative influences reach far beyond the nursery.

Finding Inspiration in the Everyday

Justin explains that creating beautiful nursery furniture doesn’t begin with identifying the next trend or even with a certain goal in mind. Instead, inspiration often arrives unexpectedly, through an appreciation for the world around us.

“Art of Nursery is a love letter to the beauty of the world that surrounds us,” he says. “The final pieces within Art of Nursery are so unique—so poetic—because they are our in-house design team’s interpretation of our beautiful world.”

If you look closely at the collection, those influences begin to reveal themselves.

The coastal landscapes of the Mediterranean find their way into the Santorini and Casablanca designs, as seen in their iconic curves. The Amalfi and Sorrento offer a nod to natural geological formations, while classical architecture influences pieces like Sicily, Mallorca, and Valencia.

Even the smallest details have unexpected origins. The upholstery of vintage automobiles and the intricate stitching of haute couture have helped inspire the collection’s nursery recliners.

It’s a decidedly different approach to designing children’s furniture than we’ve seen.

Storkcraft considers a crib or recliner as a piece that contributes to the character of a room, not just one placed purely for function.

“We consciously design and craft our Art of Nursery collections to serve as the heart of the nursery, and then to look equally stunning in the kids’ room, teen room, or even guest bedroom that follows,” says Adam. “It’s all part of the ‘grow with me’ philosophy and design ethos that guides the product development engine at Storkcraft.”

The Crib That Started It All

At the heart of the collection is the Santorini Crib, the piece that helped usher Storkcraft into a more design-forward era.

“Storkcraft has always been about providing safer, quality-crafted pieces to families that provide the utmost value, but, until Art of Nursery, we never prioritized boundary-pushing design,” Adam tells Mini.

The crib’s distinctly sculptural silhouette and coastal inspiration represent the intersection of Justin’s creative instincts and his experience of becoming a parent.

“There’s a quote I love from Rick Rubin’s book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, which says, ‘Train yourself to see the awe behind the obvious,’” Justin says. “What set the development of the Santorini apart from any other Storkcraft crib that came before it was the fact that it just happened.”

The response extended well beyond the nursery industry, helping establish Storkcraft’s place within a broader conversation about innovative furniture design.

In 2025, Justin was also named to Business in Vancouver’s Forty Under 40 list, recognizing his contributions to the industry. In 2026, he was recognized by Western Living as One to Watch and People’s Choice for furniture design.

However, the awards are only part of the story.

“The design recognition is special, but seeing families put their trust in us, seeing our hand-sketched designs find their way into the homes of growing families, that’s what means the most,” Adam says.

Beautiful Pieces That Grow with Your Family

Even the most design-savvy parent would agree, beautiful nursery furniture needs to work for real life. Babies grow, rooms change, and the pieces chosen during those early months should ideally have a life long after them.

That consideration is woven throughout Art of Nursery, particularly in the Santorini and Casablanca bassinets, two of the collection’s most inventive designs.

At first glance, the bassinets are sculptural pieces intended to create a beautiful, technology-free sleep environment for newborns. But their most interesting feature comes later.

Once baby has outgrown the bassinet, each can be transformed into two separate, lasting pieces of furniture: a toy box and a bookcase.

It was Storkcraft designer Dashiell Corvin-Brittin who envisioned the concept, which gives the bassinets a purpose even after their original function has ended.

“The bassinet, while such an important piece of furniture for a growing family, is extremely short-lived,” says Dashiell. “I wanted to find a way to prolong the use of it and give families the utmost value for the investment into a bassinet. In the end, we found a way to give it a ‘forever’ life span.”

Another standout piece of the Art of Nursery collection is the Amalfi Crib, a design inspired by the Italian coastline.

“The Amalfi harmonizes the juxtaposition of substantial, safety-focused craftsmanship with breezy, minimalist design elements,” Justin says. “It’s the best of both worlds.”

Each of these Storkcraft designs reflects a notable shift in how parents approach decorating children’s spaces. Rather than creating a nursery that feels completely separate from the rest of the home, more families are choosing furniture that works with their personal interior design style and can evolve as their children grow.

It’s an approach that allows parents to invest in pieces they genuinely love, without feeling that beautiful design needs to be temporary.

The Beauty of the Little Moments

For all the attention Art of Nursery has received for its design, the sentiment behind the collection remains remarkably personal. To Justin, it’s about much more than beautiful furniture.

“Art of Nursery was largely born out of an appreciation for being present in the moment, and not letting the beauty of life’s special moments escape you,” he says.

It’s one of the many things that makes the collection resonate beyond its sculptural silhouettes and thoughtful details. These are pieces intended to become part of a family’s everyday life: the first mornings at home, the late nights spent feeding and rocking to sleep, the bedtime stories, and the ordinary moments that eventually become cherished memories.

“Parenthood is full of stressful, trying moments but one day you’ll miss them,” Justin reflects. “So be present, appreciate the little things, and remember how beautiful the baby and toddler years are.”

Explore the Art of Nursery collection at Storkcraft.

This post is sponsored by Storkcraft.