The American arts and crafts movement of the early 1900s had its roots in Europe, where it began as a revolt against the social consequences of the industrial revolution on individual workers. The ideals of social reformers, including designer William Morris, were influential in creating a new aesthetic that stressed function and unadorned beauty over the ornate styling of the Victorian era. Their notions of good design were aligned with their concept of a good society. Manufactured goods of the period were often poor in design and quality, and factory workers were brutalized by harsh working conditions. Reformers proposed that with the revival of individual craftsmanship, the individual's quality of life would improve and shoddy mass-produced goods would be replaced with beautiful objects created by skilled hands. Arts and crafts style, also known in the United States as mission style, resulted in simple, sturdy and functional furnishings. The term "mission style" reflects the influence of the traditional furnishings and interior design of the American Southwest, which incorporated Hispanic elements associated with early mission and Spanish architecture and Native American design. Rugs, pottery and baskets of the American Southwest add warmth, texture and color to early arts and crafts styling in the United States. The L. & J.G. Stickley Company of upstate New York, one of the original manufacturers of arts and crafts furniture, helped popularize the ideals and philosophies of the movement in the United States. The company, founded by brothers Leopold and John George Stickley, makes mission-style furniture today as it did at the turn of the century. The Stickleys believed in clean lines and the inherent beauty of natural wood and leather. Strong, simple construction and honest, comfortable design were at the heart of their craft. Their furniture provided a stark contrast to the dominant Victorian styling of an era characterized by gaudy machine-made designs. Stickley's mission furniture is characterized by straight, clean lines and the simple appeal of quarter-sawn white oak with features of joinery, including through tenons, corbels and butterfly joints. Good-looking and well built, furniture in the new style was championed in America by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the Midwest, the firm of Greene and Greene in California and the Stickley brothers in New York. Today Stickley's reissued mission oak grouping comprises 150 pieces. Many are copies of original designs; some are brand-new designs, including pieces of office furniture. Another line, mission cherry, has an almost Scandinavian look.
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