Brief 4 Arts and Crafts research

It seems appropriate on reading the introduction to Treasures of the American Arts and Crafts movement I read statements like:

'Deep and satisfying but buried feelings began to stir in the void left by the crumbling of traditional foundations.  Theses feelings opened onto a sense of beauty found present in the fabric of the veryday world.  they made possible a new and strictly modern sense of nourished rootedness which had its source in a heightened sense of beauty which is embedded in the world itself.  ...Living in close proximity to these intrinsic meanings was a path leading back into the Authentic way of being human.'

The Arts and Crafts movement reacted against mechanised processes that threatened handcrafts and resulted in cheapened monotonous merchandise.   They extoled the virtues of handcrafted objects simple, straigh forward design, solid materials of good quality and sound enduring construction techniques.  The consistent theme in Arts and Crafts design is nature.

Stickleys goals
' The United Crafts endeavour to promote and to extend the principles established by Morris, in both the artistic and the socialist sense. In the interests of art, they seek to substitute the luxury of taste for the luxury of costliness; to teach that beauty does not imply elaboration or ornament; to employ only these forms and materials which make simplicity, individuality and dignity of effect'  P 9

By 1903Stickley started working with Harvey Ellis who brought the Mackintosh inspired design to the furniture