The Exhibition

Craftsman Room

Gustav Stickley's magazine, The Craftsman, was one of the most far-reaching publications of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America. From 1904 it featured a series of 'Craftsman' homes designed and built by Stickley's Craftsman Workshops. They included models for a range of incomes, from the smallest cottages upwards. Although he thought the country was the best place to live, Stickley's designs could be adapted for suburban use.

Craftsman homes illustrated the ideals of 'honesty, simplicity and usefulness'. Stickley believed that the living room was the heart of the home, a place to nurture family life and a sanctuary for the working man. Its furniture should be simple and harmonise with the woodwork in colour and finish.

This recreation of a Craftsman living room is largely based on a design published in The Craftsman in March 1904. The post-and-panel detail is taken from a living room published in 1907.