Mission style furniture
Mission style furniture is a design aesthetic that emerged in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, closely associated with the American arts and crafts movement. Characterized by its simplicity and craftsmanship, Mission furniture is often made from oak and features an organic aesthetic with exposed construction elements. Common materials used in its design include canvas, copper, iron, and leather, aligning with the movement's emphasis on quality and utility. Notable figures in the development of this style include Gustav Stickley, who was instrumental in popularizing these designs through his Craftsman Workshops, and architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, who incorporated the aesthetic into their architectural work.
The furniture typically showcases straight lines and flat panels that highlight the wood grain, opting for functional comfort over elaborate ornamentation. While originally designed to reflect a handcrafted appearance, modern interpretations may vary in production methods, yet they maintain the essence of solid construction and simplicity. The enduring appeal of Mission style furniture today is often viewed as a reaction against the complexities of contemporary life, offering a timeless, neutral aesthetic suited for diverse living spaces.
Mission style furniture
Mission style furniture is known for its simplicity and has been popular for more than a century. The style originated in the United States during the 1890s and early 1900s during the American arts and crafts movement. An essential characteristic of Mission style furniture is an organic aesthetic. Elements of the furniture’s construction are exposed to emphasize the craftsmanship. The furniture is often made of oak, and natural materials including canvas, copper, iron, leather, and plain cloth are frequently used as fittings and coverings.
The style heavily influenced many American architects, especially in the West. Charles and Henry Greene and Frank Lloyd Wright were among those who embraced the aesthetic in designing homes and, in Wright’s case, the furnishings that he believed best suited them.
Background
The early-to mid-nineteenth century brought significant changes to England. The Industrial Revolution, which began in the late-eighteenth century, profoundly reshaped English society. Many cottage industries, such as spinning fibers and weaving cloth or constructing household furnishings, fell by the wayside as factories manufactured them more inexpensively and quickly. Although the quality of some objects, such as furniture, was not as good as handmade, it was more readily available, and buyers whose businesses were thriving were eager to acquire them. Industrialization primarily benefited the middle and upper classes, whose standards of living had improved considerably.
Large factories built to manufacture goods also created cities as workers moved from farms to towns. The resulting overcrowding, lack of clean water, pollution, and poor sanitation affected the quality of life of most workers and their families, who typically lived in slums and other substandard housing. Workers faced long hours and often dangerous conditions. Eventually, recognition of these conditions led to organized labor unions and social reform projects.
England was proud of its industrialization and technological advances. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, worked with members of the upper class to organize an exhibition in London to highlight technology and design in England and several invited countries. The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations of 1851 showcased advances in raw materials, machinery, manufacturers, and fine art. While overall the exhibition was lauded, critics noted the poor workmanship and overly ornamented style of the Victorian era and lamented the impersonal nature of the goods produced. This led to a re-evaluation of style and quality and the birth of the arts and crafts movement around 1860.
The arts and crafts movement, which crossed the Atlantic in the 1890s, emphasized quality of materials and craftsmanship, utility of design, and respect for craftspeople. Its proponents were largely involved in architecture and the decorative arts rather than in high arts. In the United Kingdom, artists and designers most often opposed the use of machines to create art, although some were neutral on the issue. In the United States, machines were regarded as tools and were frequently employed in the creative process.
A central tenet of the movement in Britain was a belief in the artist’s connection to the handcraft. This approach was believed to be fulfilling to the artist and crucial to the creation of everyday objects that were utilitarian and beautiful. The British arts and crafts emphasized clean lines, quality natural materials, workmanship, and utility of design. It was a direct precursor to the development and popularization of the American arts and crafts movement and Mission style furniture.
Overview
German American furniture maker Gustav Stickley was inspired by the arts and crafts designers he met in Europe in 1896. He interpreted these ideas in his New York furniture workshops. The mostly oak furniture he made was plain in form, but it nevertheless showed off the structure and craftsmanship. Stickley, who renamed his company Craftsman Workshops, founded a publication through which he popularized his furniture designs and helped develop the American arts and crafts movement.
Although Stickley’s work was among the most visible examples of the emerging Mission style furniture, similar designs were already being produced on the West Coast. The first known item of Mission furniture was made by A.J. Forbes in about 1894. He created chairs for the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco, one of the earliest arts and crafts buildings in California. His chairs were made of maple with rush seats and flared feet. He constructed them by hand using no nails. Forbes collaborated on the design with Minister Joseph Worcester, a student of architecture and founding member of the Guild of Arts and Crafts of San Francisco.
New York furniture manufacturer and retailer Joseph P. McHugh saw photographs of the church interior and copied the Forbes chair, which he believed was inspired by Spanish missions in colonial California. Within four years, he had developed a line he called Mission furniture. McHugh succeeded in popularizing the style when he loaned furniture for the New York Building at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition/World’s Fair in Buffalo, New York. An estimated eight million people passed through the gates of the event.
Mission furniture of the turn of the century was part of the US arts and crafts movement. While most makers used machines as well as handcrafting techniques, the furniture was meant to look completely handcrafted and solid. Stickley, for example, used machinery to construct furniture that was then hand-finished.
Mission style furniture is known for being solid and heavy and appears to be handcrafted, although modern furniture may be entirely mass-produced. It is traditionally made from oak or quarter-sawn white oak, usually stained a medium or dark color. The lines are simple and usually straight, often featuring horizontal and vertical lines, while flat panels show off the wood grain. The furniture is devoid of flourishes or other ornamentation and is both functional and comfortable.
Just as the origins of Mission style furniture can be seen as a defiance of Victorian Era ornateness, its continued popularity and use in the twenty-first century can also be seen as a reaction to the social media and technology-centered world. Mission style furniture provides the owner with simple, plain, and neutral options for decorating in an often complicated world.
Bibliography
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