Turn of the Century Movement Brought Solid, Simple Design to the World

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Nearly everyone expects their gadgets, furniture and clothes to fall apart after a certain amount of time these days. Our possessions breaking is just a modern reality, ubiquitous enough that we don’t bat and eye at Ikea furniture crumpling or the fading resilience of particle board.

But it wasn’t always like that. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s there was an international effort to put traditional craftsmanship and style back at the forefront of the economy. It was called the Arts & Crafts movement.

Primarily a response to the industrial revolution, the Arts & Crafts movement sought to solidify aspects of medieval, romantic and folk styles in contemporary goods. These crafts were solid and well-built, often by hand.

Today we live in a time not dissimilar from the industrial revolution, where products built to fail are greenlit with increasing regularity and little thought is put into the conditions factory workers live in.

Are we now approaching in era where we need to be more cognizant of how the products we are buying are built? Should we demand more of manufacturers in regards to quality? 

You can find additional information about the potential explored during the Arts & Crafts movement at http://bit.ly/1cP3AHI.