The Rise of Everyday Design

In its spread from Britain to the United States, the Arts, and Crafts movement evolved from its roots in individual craftsmanship to the mainstream trend increasingly adapted for mass production by American retailers. Inspired by John Ruskin in Britain in the 1840s in response to what he saw in the corrosive forces of industrialization, the movement was profoundly transformed as its tenets of simple design, honest use of materials and social value of handmade goods were widely adopted and commodified by companies like Sears, Roebuck & Co. 

This beautiful book is illustrated with stunning furniture and designs by William Morris, Gustav Stickley, and Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft community, among many others, along with such ephemera as the catalogs, sales brochures, and magazine spreads that generated popular interest.