Nathan Smith Collage #1

Gustav Stickley

Born: March 9, 1858, Osceola, Wisconsin

Died: April 21, 1942, Syracuse, New York

First trained as a stone mason, Stickley preferred to work in wood and dreamt of building fine tables and chairs. He learned furniture making at his uncle's chair factory in Lanesboro, PA. Traveling to Europe in 1896, he met notable Arts and Crafts designers. The following year he returned to the United States and founded the United Crafts of Eastwood, New York. In 1904 Stickley founded the Craftsman Workshops. The furniture he designed and made was mostly of native American oak. It was of a sturdy-plain design in contrast to the highly decorated late Victorian pieces. Joinery was exposed and upholstery was carried out in canvas and leather (natural materials). It became known as Mission Style.

Stickley's designs were exhibited at the prestigious Grand Rapids and Pan American furniture expositions. In 1901 Stickley founded the periodical known as The Craftsman that began by expounding the philosophy of the English Arts & Crafts movement. As it matured, the publication is credited with being the leading voice of that movement in the United States. In 1903 Stickley established the Craftsman Home Builders Club to spread his ideas on domestic architecture. Working with architect Harvey Ellis, he designed house plans for the magazine that later appeared in two books: Craftsman Homes(1909) and More Craftsman Homes. (1912) These books illustrated the homes' exteriors, as well as their interiors, and were accompanied with a floor plan. Financial problems forced Stickley to stop publication of The Craftsman in 1916. While he lived another twenty six years, Stickley's popularity had waned by the end of the Great War.

In 1898, Stickley toured Europe and was impressed with Arts and Crafts furniture. Upon his return, he began designing basic, almost primitive, furniture featuring exposed joinery that became immediately popular with the American public as "craftsman." A true woodworker, Stickley was still experimenting with finishing in his eighties.

Craftsman Farms exemplifies Stickley's philosophy of building in harmony with the environment by using natural materials. To quote from Stickley's magazine, The Craftsman (November 1911): "There are elements of intrinsic beauty in the simplification of a house built on the log cabin idea. First, there is the bare beauty of the logs themselves with their long lines and firm curves. Then there is the open charm felt of the structural features which are not hidden under plaster and ornament, but are clearly revealed, a charm felt in Japanese architecture....The quiet rhythmic monotone of the wall of logs fills one with the rustic peace of a secluded nook in the woods."