Shaker
Shaker furniture is a distinctive style of furniture developed by the
United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as Shakers, a religious sect that had guiding principles of simplicity, utility and honesty. Their beliefs were reflected in the well-made furniture of minimalist designs.
What I like about the Shaker style is that it is very simple looking furniture but is very functional purpose based furniture. Because of its simplicity you can see the expertise of the craftsman. The perfectly straight lines, symmetry , and finish make it easy to appreciate the work put in.
A core business for the New Lebanon Shaker community by the 1860s was the production of well-made "ladder" back or turned post chairs. The minimalist design and woven seats were fast and easy to produce.
The underlying principles of Shaker design have given inspiration to some of the finest designers of modern furniture. Shaker ladder back chairs, for instance, deeply influenced the work of an entire generation of postwar Danish designers. Also, many ideals of furniture formed around the common Shaker furniture construction. Furniture movements such as Bauhaus and mid-century modern have been influenced by Shaker design.
Dylan, hope this is more informative!! Merci/Thank you
Keith Gentile
Arbitre en chef - AHCL- Referee in Chief
Nice post Keith, I also really like the 'classic Shaker' look, especially when the paints are still visible, like on that ladder back chair you shared. Kind of interesting that most of the Shaker inspired 'minimalist' furniture of today only takes influence from the forms, not the finishes, especially when it was so important in the Shaker communities (they even had guidelines in the Millennial Laws about what furniture should be painted what color). Up until the 70s, most collectors of Shaker furniture would even go as far as to strip / re-finish Shaker furniture to show the natural wood, so unfortunately there isn't as much painted Shaker collectables as there could have been!
ReplyDeleteImagine the thought process about the qualifications of colour according to furniture functionality. :)
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