Arts & Crafts Made Modern: It all started with a $40 table

Design Confidently, Live Comfortably

January/February 2005
Arts & Crafts Made Modern

It all started with a $40 table

Born in America in the 1950s, my wife, Kathy, and I were naturally enamored of modernism. But as children of the '60s, we were also drawn to nature and natural materials. These two perspectives united in 1976, when, while on vacation in Gloucester, Mass., we bought our first piece of Stickley furniture. It was a big library table, modern in its straight, severe lines, while at the same time a stunning example of the weight and sensual beauty of solid chestnut. It cost us $40.


	Collective voice The long wall unit (above) makes a fine showcase for items from the Friedmans’ collection of vintage Fulper Pottery (these pieces date from 1910 to 1920). The cabinet knobs and pulls (below) are copies of similar details found on a chest of drawers and a Stickley desk in the family’s collection.

We had seen a lot of Victorian oak, but what was this straight stuff? We spent the rest of our vacation refinishing the table, which we now know we probably shouldn’t have done. Then we started combing libraries to learn about Gustav Stickley and his revolutionary and (at that time) neglected furniture. About the same time, a New York magazine article entitled “Move Over Deco, Here Comes Mission” introduced us to the growing Arts and Crafts revival. Before long, we were serious Stickley collectors.

Gustav Stickley was the eldest of the five Stickley brothers, all of whom were furniture manufacturers. In designing furniture, accessories, and homes for the American middle class, Stickley merged the utilitarian and aesthetic ideals of the fledging Arts and Crafts movement with his own progressive sensibility. His furniture is characterized by grace in proportion, honesty of material and construction, and simplicity. All of these principles appealed very much to Kathy and me.

Today we have more than 100 pieces -- chairs, tables, bookcases, lamps -- produced not only by Gustav’s own firm but also by that of his brothers Leopold and John George (L. & J.G. Stickley), so it was only natural that in doing our kitchen addition, we strived to honor Stickley’s ideals.

-- Ed Friedman

NEXT: Introduction

	IN THIS ARTICLE:

		Introduction

		A Grand plan Makes a Poor Start

		Arts and Crafts is a Natural for a Kitchen

		Antique Collection Provides the Details

		Two Movements Merge

		It all started with a $40 table

		Floor Plan

		Resources

PHOTOS: KAREN TANAKA