ARTS & CRAFTS was a movement that began in England as early as the 1830s, and in America in the 1890s. In England, where the industrial revolution was fully underway, the Arts and Crafts Movement signified a departure from mass-produced goods and an assembly-line mindset. Architects, artists, writers and philosophers recognized the need to reconnect people to nature and did so by creating objects that emphasized simplicity and handmade, artistic quality.  The champions of England’s Arts and Crafts Movement include William Morris (1834–1936) and John Ruskin (1819–1900).

In America, similar principles of the Movement were apparent in design, but where England showed disdain for machines, America embraced them and made good use of them in the production of Arts and Crafts furniture and accessories. The simple, geometric furniture design by Gustav Stickley (1858–1942) truly defined the American Arts and Crafts Movement, accompanied by the low-pitched roofs and open interiors of Frank Lloyd Wright’s (1867–1959) Prairie School architecture. The ideal home that emerged had an open-planned interior shaped by a color palette that reflected the natural world, and was graced with simple, artful objects—like our Arts & Crafts designs.