Mission style
was an American interpretation of the Arts and Crafts style in Victorian England. The central concept behind the movement was a return to pre-industrial craftsmanship and emphasis on the craftsperson as artist and designer. Does this Spark an idea?
Identification
Mission style was a simple, often severe rectilinear style in furniture. Artisans chose oak or cherry and used handmade pegs and hardware to assemble and decorate their work. Mission-style furniture combines the style of designers like Charles Rennie MacIntosh and William Morris with the traditional simplicity of the American Southwest.
Time Frame
Gustav Stickley, an American furniture maker, is credited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art with developing the Mission style at the turn of the 20th century. Stickley popularized the style in his magazine "The Craftsman," published between 1901 and 1916.
Significance
English artists insisted that furniture must be entirely handmade; Stickley kept his furniture affordable by using machines to cut structural members and then assembling and finishing pieces at Craftsman Farms, his studio at the family home in New Jersey. Mission-style furniture influenced the entire 20th century in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and is still being produced today.
Tags: Mission style, 20th century, Mission-style furniture