Why you should be buying Arts & Crafts furniture now

You could say the Arts and Crafts movement was built on rebellion. It was a bold reclamation of traditional crafts and manufacturing, in response to mass mechanisation and the industrial revolution in late 19th-century and early 20th-century Britain, coining its name after a meeting of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1887. Its pioneers William Morris, Augustus Pugin and Philip Webb wanted recognition for a raw and honest relationship with materials and the design process, in every craft from wallpaper design and printing, to joinery and furniture making. In simplistic furniture design, the Arts and Crafts movement arguably developed its most profound voice. Unpretentious yet dignified woodcraft proudly spoke for itself in the face of flowery Victorian inlays and excessive patterns, and pieces were built with longevity in mind, rather than fashion. It gained traction quickly, spreading wide across Europe and America as both an ideology and practice, sparking offshoot movements well into the 1910s and 1920s.

On the furniture market today, original Arts and Crafts pieces as well as dedicated contemporary reproductions are highly popular, with furniture designers and specialists such as Jamb, Howe London, Matthew Collins and Christopher Vickers all honouring the ethos. Will Fisher, antiques dealer, furniture designer and founder of Jamb notes that “the Arts and Crafts movement sits between the beginnings of modernism and yet a desperate desire to return to the past . In many ways this juxtaposition gives the movement an enduring quality.” At Jamb the ‘Sellers Table’ is a star in the Arts and Crafts collection, crafted from American Walnut, with a pierced apron decorated with modest heart motifs; at Howe, a family of Ladderback Chairs inspired by Sir Edwin Lutyens feature turned ash and oak splats with seats of thick green rush. The demand for original works by the Cotswold School is high with independent sellers and auctioneers such as Lyon and Turnbull.

Associated with ruralism, folk revival and dress reform, the Arts and Crafts movement was an appeal to society to respect traditional craftsmanship as much as the great painters and writers of the late Victorian era. The goal was to put a value on small-scale manufacturing, in turn, elevating the status of decorative arts. Gloucestershire-based antiques dealer Paul Reeves says of the movement: “It was about honesty of construction and a reaction to the damaging effects of industrialisation” and believes it is still relevant today. He adds “You could argue that it never truly ended” - an oak bookcase by Howard and Sons is a perfect example.

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It is no coincidence that a resurgence in the popularity of Arts and Crafts pieces has arrived in a time of ‘slow living’ and efforts to live more mindfully. While environmental sustainability as we have come to appreciate it may have manifested differently at the turn of the century, conscious consumerism and societal manoeuvres against ‘fast’ fashion and design are undoubtedly fueling a revival of the rustic minimal aesthetic. Will reflects that “people are tired of the modern transient world and streets littered with plastic. We crave something lasting and aesthetically timeless”.

Of the great Arts and Crafts furniture designers and metal workers - notably C. F. A Voysey, William Arthur Smith Benson, Charles Robert Ashbee and Ernest Gimson, many had trained as architects and treated the design process holistically. Paul explains that “the designer of the piece would see it through to the end,” and perhaps it is this approach–a great respect for materials and engineering–that has led to the movement’s agelessness and versatility. Ergonomically speaking, Arts and Crafts furniture designers paid a great deal of attention to the human form, revisiting pre-existing shapes in a pared-down manner, and prioritising functionality. Dealing in original Arts and Crafts pieces by Voysey, Webb and others since the 1970s, Paul Reeves says these pieces were designed to be “easy to live with” - something he feels deeply about his own collection. He adds “Each piece tells a story and is sympathetic”; their rawness is “comfortable too, in a visual sense”.

Intelligent joinery played a significant role in original Arts and Crafts manufacturing, and continues to influence contemporary design. Intricate uses of dowelling and pegs and sparing applications of animal glues imbued the pieces with structural and ideological integrity. Will adds “It is not uncommon for no attempt to be made to conceal tool marks on table tops, leaving evidence of its creator. Details like this form a direct bond between the craftsman and its owner… It’s understandable why our relationships with such pieces are so enduring”.

The rustic nature of Arts and Crafts furniture may have returned to popularity with the collective desire for a healthier planet, but for many its charm has been constant. There are opportunities for affordable reproductions, and even high-street styles emulating Arts and Crafts works, but at its core the movement was about truth and honesty. As consumers, we have the choice to honour this as much as creators can honour their process.