American Furniture Periods 1620-1900

Books and experts often refer to “Chippendale” or “Rococo Revival” furniture. Often a period is named for a king or queen; however, the dates for a furniture period are not necessarily the same as the years of the monarch’s life or reign. The names and dates of American periods of furniture sometimes differ from those […]

Modern 1945 — Present

American designers in the 1930s also began to interpret other European styles, and new “streamlined” furniture in light woods by designers like Russel Wright (1904–1976) and Gilbert Rohde (1894–1944) began to appear. The late 1930s saw increased interest in more modern styles for the average home. American designs included ornament-free sofas, streamlined forms, and blond […]

Marcel Breuer

Hungarian-born architect and designer Marcel Breuer (1902–1981) studied furniture design at the Bauhaus in Germany from 1920 to 1924 and then became head of its furniture workshop until 1928. Breuer introduced strong, lightweight tubular steel furniture. He first used tubular steel in 1925 for the Wassily chair built of welded ready-made tubes and a webbed […]

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969), Germany’s most important modern architect, was a prominent furniture designer during the late 1920s and the 1930s. His early chairs were made of tubular steel. The MR20, a curved tubular steel cantilevered chair with a woven cane seat, was introduced in 1927. The Barcelona chair he created in 1929 […]

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld and the Zig-Zag Chair

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (1888-1964) worked in his father’s cabinetry workshop as a teenager in Holland. By 1911 he had his own studio, where he made pieces influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and other designers and artists who were considered avant-garde. In 1918 he decided to experiment with a different type of design that could be […]

Stickley Marks

The name Stickley is synonymous with solid, unadorned Mission-style Arts & Crafts furniture. At the same time, it is synonymous with confusion—because the five Stickley brothers worked as partners and competitors in different business ventures. All the Stickley brothers used paper labels, decals, and branded marks on their products. Manufacturer Date Other Information Mark Craftsman […]

Frank Lloyd Wright

The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) designed Arts and Crafts furniture for his home in Oak Park, Illinois, as early as 1893. He also created some Mission-style furniture for use in his studio and several homes he designed during the first two decades of the twentieth century. The early pieces were made by custom […]

Stickley & Brandt Chair Company

The Stickley & Brandt Chair Company was formed in Binghamton, New York, and run by Charles Stickley and members of the Brandt family from 1891 to 1918. The company made elaborately carved chairs and rockers and did not do much work in the Mission style until 1909, when it began marketing its Modern Craft line […]

L. & J. G. Stickley Company

Two Stickley brothers, Leopold and John George, established a furniture business in Fayetteville, New York, about 1902. It was incorporated in 1904 as L. & J. G. Stickley Company. It sold Arts and Crafts furniture under the Onondaga Shop label. The furniture followed the designs of Gustav Stickley, but the company used both veneers and […]

Stickley Brothers Company

Albert Stickley and his brother John George moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1891 and established Stickley Brothers Company. John George moved to New York City about 1898 and left the firm in 1902 to join his brother Leopold. Albert expanded the company’s operations to England, opening a warehouse and factory in London in the […]