Shaker chair
A ladder-back chair without a single needless ornament, made by a religious community in the United States.
The Shakers were a religious community living in their own villages in the United States from the late 18th century. They believed that an object should be made as well as possible and without excess.
The chairs were so light that they could be hung on the peg rail when the floor was swept. Twentieth-century Scandinavian designers, among them Kaare Klint and Børge Mogensen, studied them closely.
Materials: Maple, cherry or birch; seat of woven cotton tape or rush
Manufacture: Turned posts and slats; at Mount Lebanon, New York, the chairs were made in series from the 1870s and sold by catalogue.
Light, straight posts with small finials at the top.
Curved back slats like the rungs of a ladder.
The seat of woven tape in a chequer pattern, often in two colours.