__NOTOC__ Shaker furniture is a distinctive style of

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

developed by the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as

Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...

, a religious sect that had guiding principles of

simplicity Simplicity is the state or quality of being simple. Something easy to understand or explain seems simple, in contrast to something complicated. Alternatively, as Herbert A. Simon suggests, something is simple or complex depending on the way we ch ...

, utility and honesty. Their beliefs were reflected in the well-made furniture of minimalist designs.

History

Shaker communities were largely self-sufficient: in their attempt to separate themselves from the outside world and to create a heaven-on-earth, members grew their own food, constructed their own buildings, and manufactured their own tools and household furnishings.
—
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
''Shaker furniture''.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved March 23, 2014.

Overview

Furniture was made thoughtfully, with functional form and proportion. Rather than using ornamentation—such as

inlay Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with th ...

carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

s, metal pulls, or veneers—which was seen as prideful or deceitful, they developed "creative solutions such as asymmetrical drawer arrangements and multipurpose forms to add visual interest." Furniture was made of cherry, maple or pine lumber, which was generally stained or painted with one of the colors which were dictated by the sect, typically blue, red, yellow or green. Drawer pulls for dressers or other furniture were made of wood. A core business for the New Lebanon Shaker community by the 1860s was the production of well-made "ladder" back or turned post chairs. The minimalist design and woven seats were fast and easy to produce. Furniture built and used by the New Lebanon "believers" is exhibited in the Shaker Retiring Room at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, which originated from the

North Family North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

Shakers' 1818 First Dwelling House. The furniture, acquired in the 1970s, and Shaker textiles are considered among the finest Shaker collections in the world. Many examples of Shaker furniture survive and are preserved today, including such popular forms as Shaker tables, chairs, rocking chairs (made in several sizes), and cabinets, which are said to have ''Shaker doors'', known for being flat paneled with rail frames. Collections of Shaker furniture are maintained by many art and historical museums in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as in numerous private collections including the

Shaker tilting chair The Shaker tilting chair named for its ball bearing or ball and socket button mechanism assembled to the back two legs of a wooden chair allowed a person to lean back in the chair without slipping or scraping the floor. Description The devi ...

. The underlying principles of Shaker design have given inspiration to some of the finest designers of modern furniture. Shaker ladder back chairs, for instance, deeply influenced the work of an entire generation of postwar Danish designers. Also many ideals of furniture formed around the common Shaker furniture construction.

Notable people

Tabitha Babbitt Sarah "Tabitha" Babbitt (born December 9, 1779, Hardwick, Massachusetts; died 12 August 1853 in Harvard) was a Shaker credited to be a tool maker and inventor. Inventions attributed to her by the Shakers include the circular saw, the spinning whe ...

, Shaker toolmaker and inventor *

Ken Hakuta Ken Hakuta (born 1951), known as Dr. Fad since 1983, is a South Korean-born Japanese-American inventor and television personality. Hakuta, as Dr. Fad, was the host of the popular children's invention TV show ''The Dr. Fad Show'', which ran from ...

, Shaker furniture collector *

John Kassay John Kassay (1919 in Bayonne, New Jersey – February 17, 2004, in San Bruno, California) was an expert in Shaker and Windsor furniture as well as a skilled craftsman, draftsman and photographer. He published "The Book of Shaker Furniture" in 198 ...

, author and expert on Shaker furniture *

Isaac N. Youngs Isaac Newton Youngs (July 4, 1793 – August 7, 1865) was a member of the Shakers. He was a prolific scribe, correspondent, and diarist who documented the history of the New Lebanon, New York Church Family of Shakers from 1815 to 1865. Early li ...

, Shaker furniture and clock maker

References

External links

{{Commons category, Shaker Furniture
Shaker Museum and Library, Chatham, NYShaker furniture at the Art Complex Museum
Furniture

Furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

History of furniture

History

Overview

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading

External links