Arts and Crafts

A design movement of the second half of the 19th century, whose English and American exponents attempted to create beautiful, well-designed furnishings which would improve the overall quality of life through their daily use.

The movement grew out of a reaction to the excesses of the Victorian era and the Gay Nineties, and it glorified craftsmanship in deliberately simple shapes with exposed joinery and spare ornamentation. Many of the advocates were against the thoughtless use of machines, instead preferring to support both the ideology and practicality of a holistic approach to craftsmanship and production.

William Morris and John Ruskin were among its proponents in England. Based on their beliefs and designs, Gustav Stickley pioneered a similar movement in America, before it waned with the onset of World War I.