Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement

With its emphasis on social reform and simplicity in design---bold lines, honest use of materials, and redeeming qualities of handmade goods---the Arts and Crafts movement offered an antidote to the perceived ills of a rapidly changing world and the ornate and artificial Victorian aesthetic of the late 19th century. In the first years of the 20th century, the movement was popularized in the United States through the efforts of Gustav Stickley (1858 -1942), a businessman who promoted a progressive American style and the ideal of the simple life through the efforts of his furniture factory and publication, The Craftsman.