New arts and crafts by Lidewij Edelkoort
2023 Home & Interiors
The Arts & Crafts movement was born in the second half of the 19th century and dominated the turn of that century to take flight in the following decades; spreading over the planet like wildfire, moving from England to Scotland, touching America, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Belgium, Austria and Japan, as well as outposts like Australia and South Africa. Each country adopted the ideals and rules in its own way, which explains the amazing array of designs that flourished globally in that prolonged period.
From ornate English floral patterns to robust Californian pottery, Dutch brick building and Australian lacquered woods, the variations are myriad yet somehow feel like a family. Even Asia’s answers to the movement’s call for beauty as a guideline for life permeate the region’s other expressions. Nevertheless, Arts & Crafts is recognizable and has left an enormous legacy in terms of architecture, garden design, furniture and objects, and textiles, colours, and patterns. Therefore, the need for discreet decoration in woodwork, ceramics, tiling and fabrics makes its comeback logical and desirable; a need for exquisite detail that is felt today in a society burdened by too many fast fashions and greed-driven design products.
Mostly tone-on-tone and using repetition and symmetry, the notion of a voluptuous calm was new for the period and feels new again today. After three decades of minimalism and functionalism, the sudden and unexpected arrival of refined detail with bespoke colour emerges as a gift.
The slowness of craft processes gives design its nobility and depth, empowered by the belief that animistic energy can be nestled in materials. Tomorrow’s objects and textiles should be scrutinized for the possibilities of refined detailing and finishing – like braiding, basket weaving, engraving, painting, lace making, embroideries and more. Heavier architectural monuments will use rhythm and the alternation of materials as their motto, employing bricks and bas-relief, tiles and metal, or wood and stained glass as post-Gothic inspired elements of innovation. The way Arts & Crafts interiors yielded to architecture is typical of the period, where part of the furniture would often be built-in as an integral part of the building, as we can witness in the social housing of the Amsterdam School.
This holistic approach to living has become a design direction for our times, where the functions of rooms are shifting, demanding new plans for the future; a nucleus society with more room for family and friends and less space for solitude, with a focus on cooking and learning, playing and reading, baking and binging… Living rooms will become living kitchens; bedrooms will become junior suites; dining rooms will become libraries to study and connect, as gardens and balconies become coveted, adding an extra room to the home. Extending the perspective of even the smallest space.
The need for detail is reborn and will add a sense of quiet luxury to simple items such as trays, mirrors, glassware and lamps; metal connections, wooden frames, crystallized patterns and spheric wall cones are part of this life of little hedonisms. The design discipline will be reinvented, working with artisans and qualified specialists for production. Even when the final product is industrial and serial, the trace of the hand will remain visible through to the end. This means objects and furniture can be assembled with antiques and vintage treasures, mixing old and new as a favourite pastime, rethinking and restoring cabinets and kitchen buffets, and farm tables with benches.
Yet it is not just its dedication to aesthetics and a life dedicated to beauty that makes the Arts & Crafts movement so relevant for its revival since it’s also its intention to create human making centres and workshops, to take workers out of the cities and into the country, providing housing and education and a sense of family. The communal philosophy of sharing all tasks and benefits in more equal proportions starts to yield interest, by which some captains of industry raise minimum wages and decrease indecent salaries, providing a fully transparent chart to be shared online. This new awareness is only just starting and will need time to grow, as will the foundations of commons where everybody has part ownership of the house.
The family of William Morris was related through a life-long friendship to the pre-Raphaelite painter Burne-Jones and friends, colliding the extreme beauty of the sinuous redhaired models from the pre-Raphaelite movement with Art & Craft’s love of nature, textiles and texture. Therefore, textiles became the lasting heritage of the Morris clan – both father and daughter, united in a similar language of prints and embroideries that are successful still today, continually inspiring fashion and interiors at regular intervals. Even now, their iconic opulent botanical patterns are a reference for young brands that lend from the handwriting while adopting flora and fauna to their environment. These products include upholstery and dress fabrics, wallpaper and cushions, and bed covers and house dresses. Even pyjamas will look great in them. And bedding should follow soon!
Lidewij Edelkoort
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