By the time the 20th century began, many Americans were fed up with progress.

Akron Beacon Journal , May , 2013

The fussiness and frills of the Victorian era had grown tiresome. Industrialization had left many feeling trampled by technology’s march.

People longed for a simpler time, and they fed that craving with solid, straight-lined Arts and Crafts furniture.

A hundred years later, it’s the same story all over again.

Furniture makers apparently were sensing a turn in the American psyche when they developed their designs for this spring’s International Home Furnishings Market, the weeklong trade show that ended here Wednesday. Several were showing collections firmly rooted in the Arts and Crafts tradition, a style marked by simple lines and a reverence for hand craftsmanship.

Just like a century ago, the current trend marks a rejection of excessive ornamentation and a wariness toward the depersonalization that has accompanied our advancing technology, noted Kim Shaver, Hooker Furniture’s vice president for marketing communications.

People are packing away their beaded lampshades, subscribing to Real Simple and pouring their energy into handmade greeting cards that convey much more than e-mail ever could. ‘I think it’s emotional comfort’ we’re seeking, Shaver said.

Hooker’s answer to that need was Simply American, a collection of heirloom-quality bedroom furniture, entertainment-storage pieces and bookcases that was perhaps the most authentic of the High Point introductions. The cherry and quarter-sawn oak furniture had many of the familiar Arts and Crafts hallmarks: vertical slats, hammered hardware and prominent wood grains beneath hand-rubbed finishes. The pieces had an early 20th century look, but with 21st century conveniences such as hidden jewelry storage behind a dresser mirror and a lift mechanism to hide a flat-panel TV in a console.

The furniture is factory-made in America but incorporates a good deal of handwork, Shaver said. That’s reflected in the line’s prices, which include $2,499 for a bureau chest and $1,999 for a queen-size platform bed.

The combination of automation and handcrafting that Hooker is employing is in keeping with the history of the Arts and Crafts movement, said Terrence Uber, an interior-design historian at Kent State University.

How movement began

The movement started in England in the 19th century, when designers disenchanted with the rush of the Industrial Age and the ornateness of the Victorian era looked back to medieval times for inspiration.

The Arts and Crafts school valued the individual, Uber said, yet only the wealthiest of individuals could afford the work of early practitioners such as William Morris. Ironically, Arts and Crafts furniture didn’t find wide acceptance until American manufacturers started mass-producing it, he said. Gustav Stickley popularized the style in this country by combining machine production with hand finishing, resulting in a product with the qualities of handmade but prices more people could afford.

Affordability a factor

Affordability was a driving force behind the Artisan collection, a stylized grouping introduced at the High Point market by Cresent Fine Furniture. The signature grillwork of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School — an outgrowth of Arts and Crafts — is a common element in the bedroom, dining and occasional pieces, as are the elongated lines associated with Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

But Fred Spector tweaked tradition to give the collection a more sleek, youthful feel. Spector, who has designed for such Gen X favorites as Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel, incorporated graceful lines that counter the blockiness common to Arts and Crafts, such as chair backs that curve and bed posts that taper from octagonal to square.

The collection is constructed of cathedral walnut, with a high-sheen finish that shows off the wood’s grain.

Richard Tomkins, Cresent’s director of sales and marketing, said the collection’s prices are aimed at a younger market: $999 to $1,299 for the beds, $799 to $999 for the dining tables and $250 for the dining chairs.

Another collection intended for younger consumers is Pennsylvania House’s Badin Ridge, a line of solid wood furniture that’s more casual than the company’s signature early American pieces. The collection has the chunky, straight-lined styling of traditional Arts and Crafts, but the wood is alder –a less grainy choice than the usual oak or cherry.

Functionality vital

The line was created with functionality in mind to appeal to younger people and those living in smaller spaces. ‘They need their furniture to do more,’ marketing director Larry Chilton said. So a bedside chest has a pull-out, laminate-covered surface to hold a laptop computer or a glass of wine, and sliding-door bookcases can stack or be used individually as TV consoles. All the doors and drawers come with two sets of hardware, so the look can be changed with the turn of a screwdriver.

Prices in the Badin Ridge collection include $3,675 for a king-size canopy bed, $1,499 for a round dining table and $495 for a splat-back side chair.

Wright reproductions

Purists, on the other hand, will appreciate Copeland Furniture’s Frank Lloyd Wright collection, a group licensed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The collection focuses on the architect and designer’s early Prairie period, an Arts and Crafts outgrowth that was inspired by the horizontal lines of the American prairie.

Most of the quarter-sawn oak and cherry pieces are reproductions of furniture Wright designed for his own homes and those of his clients. Among them are a dining table based on one Wright created for the Dana-Thomas House in Springfield, Ill. (unlike the original, which could accommodate 30 to 40 guests, this one seats a more reasonable 12); bedroom furniture from the Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, Mich.; and the iconic barrel chair that Wright created for several clients as well as Taliesin, his home in Spring Green, Wis. The barrel chair will carry a retail price of $999; the Dana-Thomas table, $5,499.

The pieces are close in design to the originals, although some modifications were made to fit today’s needs, company representative Abby Copeland said. For example, twin beds were expanded to queen and king sizes, dining chair backs were slanted slightly for comfort and extra-wide dresser drawers were downsized, their width no longer needed for laying dresses flat.

Nevertheless, Copeland Furniture took care to retain the carefully crafted millwork that was a hallmark of Wright’s work. ‘Frank Lloyd Wright paid a great deal of attention to the details,’ Abby Copeland said. ‘They made the difference.’

In fact, it’s the details that furniture makers are hoping will sell a new generation on their Arts and Crafts-inspired furniture — details like hammered hardware, rich wood grain and mellow finishes.

And not a bit of fussiness in sight.

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