Manufacturers on a New Mission
by Charlyne Varkonyi Schaub, Knight-Ridder Newspapers
Furniture manufacturers are betting we're so fed up with technology and mass-produced goods that we will want to put our money on the "Simple Life."
This yearning for a vanishing lifestyle has nothing to do with Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton.It has everything to do with the Arts & Crafts Movement that made Gustav Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene & Greene household names.
The most repeated mantra at the International Home Furnishings Market that ended here Wednesday was the simple lines and fine craftsmanship of Arts & Crafts and Mission furniture. Nearly 25 percent of the manufacturers introduced this style at the market, according to a Furniture/Today and Home Accents Today survey. Among them are Hooker's Simply American, Magnussen Home's Oak Park, Copeland's Prairie by Frank Lloyd Wright and Stickley's additions to Pasadena Bungalow and Historic Mission.