The Rise of Everyday Design: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and America

The Rise of Everyday Design: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and America

by Monica Penick (Author), Christopher Long (Author), Eric Anderson (Contributor), Samuel Dodd (Contributor), Carma Gorman (Contributor), Willa Granger (Contributor), Thomas A. Guiler (Contributor), Rebecca J. Keyel (Contributor), Anna Nau (Contributor)

A new look at the Arts and Crafts Movement, tracing its roots in reformist ideas, engagement with commercial culture, and eventual presence in everyday life.

The Arts and Crafts Movement progressed from its foundations in individual artistry to a popular trend more adapted for mass production by American shops as it expanded from Britain to the United States. The movement was profoundly transformed as its tenets of simple design, honest use of materials and social value of handmade goods were widely adopted and commodified by companies like Sears, Roebuck and Co., which was inspired by John Ruskin in Britain in the 1840s in response to what he saw as the corrosive forces of industrialization.

The movement gained popularity in early twentieth-century America when large-scale manufacture and retailing through department stores and mail-order catalogues deprived it of its reformist objectives. Beautiful furniture and ideas by William Morris, Gustav Stickley, and Elbert Hubbard’s Roycroft community, among many others, are included in this lovely book, as well as ephemera like catalogues sales brochures, and magazine covers that sparked public interest. This viewpoint provides a fresh look at the Arts and Crafts movement, its geographical scope, and its application to everyday design.

Shop Now

You may also be interested in

Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900 – Encyclopedia of Design
by Curator Amelia Peck (Author), Ms. Carol Irish (Author), & 2 more Candace Wheeler rose to prominence as the top late-nineteenth-century American textile designer by educating herself to match and eventually surpass the achievements of advanced European designers. She transitioned from needlework to fabric and interior design.

Clay: Contemporary Ceramic Artisans (hardcover) – Encyclopedia of Design
by Amber Creswell Bell The feeling of a ceramicist’s studio is captured, along with a new appreciation for the beautiful, practical, and approachable works created by a new generation of artists. Ceramics is resurfacing significantly, with an uptick in interest and popularity not seen since the 1970s.