After returning to her native Michigan from Los Angeles eight years ago, designer Sarah Sherman Samuel missed the buzz of inspiration she got from visiting collectible art and design galleries. So when SSS Studio moved into a new building in the Uptown neighborhood of Grand Rapids and it included a street-facing retail space, her mind took flight. “I realized it could be a proper art gallery,” says Sherman Samuel, whose firm also takes on art curation for clients. “Whenever I visit galleries in other cities, there’s this sense of discovery that you leave with. I realized we could bring that to the community here.” Enter, Gallery SSS.

Sarah Sherman Samuel with an original ceramic sculpture she created for the exhibition Dean Van Dis

The first exhibition, “Homecoming,” opened last week and runs through October 16. The designer reflected on her own journey of leaving the Midwest for a coastal metropolis and decided to fill the inaugural show with works from artists who have Midwestern roots—whether they were born and raised in the region, were there for college, or are transplants who’ve made their home there. “I want to celebrate how much art and design inspiration actually originated from here and bring some of it back,” she says. The show features the work of 14 artists, including Misha Kahn, Jay Sae Jung Oh, Jeremy Anderson, and Sherman Samuel herself (she makes ceramic sculptures in addition to furniture).

As the exhibition came together, Sherman Samuel says that through lines became clear. “You’re able to see how the landscape and a sense of place follows you even long after you’ve moved on,” she explains. “There’s almost no overlap in the mediums, but as I was walking through, I realized that there were some motifs popping up in different works. Two pieces from different artists, who had no idea what the other was doing, have shovels in them; and two others both feature a tooth. There were all these little things, even though the materials are so drastically different. It was fun to see those connections.”

While the home furnishings industry is deeply rooted in Grand Rapids (it is nicknamed Furniture City as manufacturers like Herman Miller and Steelcase are based in the area), she says collectible design galleries like Gallery SSS aren’t the norm for the city. “It probably would have made more sense to just start a showroom, but that felt less exciting to me,” she says. “I wanted to do something different. I feel like people don’t need another home store.”

Sherman Samuel acknowledges that expanding her business in this new direction has meant making slight changes to her design workload. “I want my business to stay small, purposefully,” she says. “It’s a creative business and I want to be the one doing the creating. So having this gallery does mean taking on fewer design clients. Instead of six or seven interior projects, we have four to five.”

“Homecoming” features the work of 14 artists with Midwestern roots and spans a number of mediumsDean Van Dis

The plan for Gallery SSS is to have quarterly exhibitions, alternating between curated art shows and periods where Sherman Samuel shows her own furniture line as well as her art. “To be able to use my platform to actually feature other artists as well as really being able to discover other artists myself, has been inspiring,” she says. “I was joking that it felt like I was back in art school. There’s a feeling of camaraderie among artists that I’ve really enjoyed being a part of again.”

With that in mind, she has curated art in a range of mediums and price points, hoping to appeal to both emerging collectors in the region as well as more seasoned ones. “We might not be able to have something for everyone, but there is a range here,” she says. “My hope is that this is a gallery where, even if you walk in with two pennies in your pocket, you can still leave feeling like you saw something special and feel inspired—like you’re taking part of someone’s story with you.”