Kevin Stayton was born in Ohio, and educated at the Ohio State University, and Yale University. He began work at the Brooklyn Museum in 1980 as an Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts. He became Curator of Decorative Arts in 1989, and Chief Curator in 2001. In addition to his position at the Brooklyn Museum, he has taught at the Bard Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture; the Cooper-Hewitt/Parsons Graduate Program in the Decorative Arts; and Columbia University.