If you are looking for furniture, consider Mission style for its clean lines and sturdy American construction
Mission furniture is a genuine American art form that continues to be popular as a collector’s item and modern day furniture design. The precise origins of this design are unknown, nevertheless the story typically cited has been that Mission furniture was first crafted by the congregation of a San Francisco church about 1890. Having little money, the parishioners decided to fabricate the furniture themselves, creating pieces resembling furniture found in the Spanish mission stations of Mexico as well as in the western and southwestern areas of the United States. Another story says the Native Americans helped the monks assemble furniture for the recently built missions in California and Mexico. The ensuing styles ended up plain, durable, utilitarian chairs and tables, lacking frills, and graceful in their simplicity, strength, and visual appeal. Discover more information on mission style furniture.
Mission-style furniture was initially well known in the United States between 1890 and 1914 and became an element associated with the Arts and Crafts movement that originated in Great Britain. This movement stressed the great importance of preserving the handcrafted furniture, and was a counterpoint to the more lavishly designed furniture of the Victorian period. The design seemed to be heavily affected by the straight lines and simple shapes of the Japanese furniture of the times, nevertheless Mission style furniture is native to America, and it merely preserved the essential philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement. When it became well-known, the title “Mission Furniture” was assigned to this unique style, and even though it had started in the West, it would be a New York-based designer, Joseph McHugh, who began producing Mission furniture meant for the middle class. Discover more information on mission furniture.
Realizing that the manufactured furniture of that time was frequently inferior in quality and design, the Arts and Crafts movement stressed the revival of quality workmanship. Inferior, mass-produced goods should be replaced with beautiful items made by skilled hands, and this furniture mirrored the ideals of the movement. Mission-style furnishings were simple, stylish and functional, and created from organic, unpainted wood and additional down-to-earth elements.
Mission-style furniture in those days was built more or less entirely of weathered or fumed oak. Characterized by straight lines, and mortise, tenon, and dowel joinery, this style of furniture was commonly free of ornamentation, although large nail heads, simple cut out patterns or hand-hammered copper appliqués were sometimes used for decoration. Both original and modern-day Mission furniture is characterized by straight, clean lines and the unpretentious charm of quarter-sawn white oak using features of joinery, incorporating through tenons, corbels and butterfly joints. Few furniture designs have retained the attractiveness of Mission style furniture. Beginning with its solid lines and handcrafted beginnings, this furniture has been at the vanguard of solid oak and wood furniture for more than a century.
