If you are thinking about buying furniture, consider Mission style for its uncluttered lines and sturdy American construction

Mission furniture is a legitimate American art form that remains popular as collector’s pieces and as a contemporary furniture design. The actual beginnings of this design are unknown, but the tale most often cited has been that Mission furniture was crafted by the parishioners of a San Francisco church about 1890. Having no money, these parishioners chose to fabricate the furniture themselves, creating items mimicing furniture commonly found in the Spanish mission stations of Mexico as well as in the western and southwestern parts of the United States. Another tale has the Native Americans helping the monks put together pieces of furniture for the newly constructed missions in California and Mexico. The resulting styles were plain, tough, utilitarian tables and chairs, devoid of embellishments, and stylish in their simplicity, strength, and visual appeal. Find more information on oak mission furniture.

Mission-style furniture became in demand in the United States between 1890 and 1914 and became an element of the Arts and Crafts movement that began in Britain. This movement stressed the value of preserving the handcrafted pieces of furniture, and was a counterpoint to the more extravagantly designed furniture of the Victorian period. The style seemed to be seriously affected by the straight lines and straightforward structure of the Japanese furniture of the times, however, Mission style furniture is purely American, and it only preserved the essential philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement. Once it grew to be well-known, the name “Mission Furniture” was assigned to this unique design, and although it had started in the West, it was a New York-based designer, Joseph McHugh, who started making Mission furniture meant for the masses. Find more information on mission style furniture.

Given the fact that manufactured furniture of the period was frequently weak in quality and design, the Arts and Crafts movement stressed the rebirth of quality workmanship. Shoddy, mass-produced products should be supplanted with beautiful objects produced by professional hands, and this furniture reflected the ideals of the movement. Mission-style furnishings were plain, stylish and practical, and produced from organic, unpainted wood and other down-to-earth elements.

Mission-style furniture in those days was manufactured more or less entirely of weathered or fumed oak. Characterized by straight lines, and mortise, tenon, and dowel joinery, this style of furniture was ordinarily free of embellishment, however large nail heads, simple cut out patterns or hand-hammered copper appliqués were sometimes utilized for decoration. Both original and modern Mission furniture is characterized by straight, clean lines and the simple look of quarter-sawn white oak with features of joinery, incorporating through tenons, corbels and butterfly joints. Only a handful of furniture styles have retained the attractiveness of Mission style furniture. From its solid lines and handcrafted beginnings, this furniture has been at the vanguard of solid oak and wood furniture for over a hundred years.

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