|
Mission Style Furniture / Arts and Crafts Style
Sometimes called Prairie Style
.
In 1989, when I first started to build custom furniture, I was working to
identify and develop my own signature style as a design focus for my work. The Arts and Crafts movement quickly emerged as what resonated best with me. The rich detail, the functionality and sense of
proportion laid the foundation for some of the most beautiful pieces ever created. I also decided that my work was not going to be about reproducing works already done, but my own personal
interpretations. Naturally, wanting to please my customers, I was more than happy to build an authentic reproduction, when was what they truly wanted.
Through my custom work I found design elements, proportions and wood choices that were not necessarily authentic to
pieces from the turn of the century, but complimented that style and gave my furniture pieces a more refined look and greater originality.
I found inspiration from some of the best-known and most successful artists of the era: Gustav Stickley, William
Morris, Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene and Greene. Often it was the style that my clients were looking themselves to "borrow" from in the custom pieces they commissioned. To my client's benefit I
could incorporate a view of the broad body of work from these great designers; their architecture, graphic designs and other home furnishings, and pull together a unique design, yet still stay rooted
in the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Though I have expanded into other styles, some classic and others completely of my own design,
I still love what the Arts and Crafts movement has given. It gives me great pleasure to create new pieces to be enjoyed today and become the heirlooms of tomorrow..
|
