I agree to a point charlie. The movement also was in reaction to the
French, Colonial, Louis (frilly) furniture style. The clean lines of
arts~n~crafts are a beautiful thing in themselves. A friend of mine
captured it "...you have to beat and mold metal to make it beautiful, you
have to sculpt dirt into pottery, but wood is already beautiful...you just
have to make sure you don't screw it up!...) I think that exemplifies what
Morris and Stickley (and others) were saying. The clean lines and crisp
joints enhance the wood without detracting from it.

IMHO

Schroeder


"charlie b" wrote in message
...
The Arts and Crafts Movement began well after the Industrial
Revolution, perhaps when furniture manufacturers had, to
cut production cost, were cutting corners when it came to
the strength of the joinery which, for the most part, was
hidden anyway - so who'd know until after they'd bought
and had the furniture around for a while. The company
already had those folk's money - and there were plenty
more customers out there who wouldn't know quality
if struck in the face with it - sort of the Ikea of that era.

One of the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement was
"honesty" and visible joinery, decorated and used as a design
element or not, displaying the strength of the joinery and the
craftsmanship required to make them - and maybe point
up the shortcomings of the "manufactured" furniture.

Just a hypothesis. What say you?

charlie b