Arts and Crafts
A revolt against the cheap ornament of the factories: honest craftsmanship, nature's patterns and the idea that everyday objects can make life better.
The Arts and Crafts movement began in England as a protest against industrial goods and against conditions in the factories. The critic John Ruskin argued that factory-made ornament was dead because the worker was not allowed to think. William Morris took the ideas further and in 1861 founded a firm that made wallpapers, fabrics, furniture, stained glass and books.
Morris's patterns were based on plants and birds from English gardens and meadows, drawn with clear outlines and repeated. He dyed fabrics with natural dyes such as indigo and madder. The furniture was simple and sturdy, often in oak, with visible joints.
The movement spread to Scotland, the United States, Germany and the Nordic countries. In the United States Gustav Stickley published the magazine The Craftsman; in Sweden Carl and Karin Larsson's home in Sundborn and Ellen Key's essay Beauty for All became models for a lighter, simpler home. Arts and Crafts named an attitude rather than a style.