21st CENTURY FURNITURE II
The Arts & Crafts Legacy        page 10

A Selling Exhibition of Today's Designer Makers

30 March to 25 April 2009

A Comment from Martin Grierson curator of this exhibition.

 This exhibition follows the success of our first, last April. Many of the same makers are showing again this time but we  

 also have a number of new faces. In selecting the work for this exhibition I want to show that the spirit and ideals of the  

 Arts & Crafts makers of the early 20th Century are alive and well and being developed, for today, by today's   

 designer/makers and expressed through new contemporary ideas and designs.

The legacy of the Arts & Crafts movement is expressed in:- honesty to the materials and sound constructional principles: use of fine materials and finishes: relating furniture to peoples lives: the use of tools: restrained decoration - chamfers - beads and moldings - stringing - paneling - marquetry - decorative metalwork and leather. This fine craftsmanship is practiced today although the style is different. 

The earlier practitioners met to exchange ideas and formed The Artworkers Guild. They were interested in education and created The Central School of Arts & Crafts and they were strong on apprenticeships. They exhibited and formed The Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society (now The Society of Designer Craftsmen). Today many of these institutions continue and, in this 
electronic age, 200 furniture makers subscribe to an email forum where we discuss ideas and exchange information. An increasing number of workshops are running courses and taking apprentices and some of our universities teach Fine Furniture making.

We hope you will enjoy this exhibition and appreciate the love and skill that has gone into the making of each piece. We also hope that you will wish to own some of the pieces or commission new ones.

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