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Arts and crafts was a movement about integrity. It was about respecting materials and the way you used them. The movement wanted people to work in happy, healthy surroundings and they wanted them to take pleasure in what they made. This is different to modernism as this was an industrial movement with heavily mass produced factory based products, inspired by the development of new technology, making use of mass production rather than bespoke production. In the arts and crafts movement, there were three main theorists. William Morris, C.R Ashbee and W.R Lethlaby. All of these theorists trained as architects and worked towards collective unity in the arts. The main theorist for this movement would be William Morris due to his use of historic patterns and unusual plants which led to inspire interior design trends. Another theorist was another well known theorist within this movement, who was one of America’s first female interior and textile designers, Candance Wheeler. Modernism inspired the Bauhaus’s movement through the Warcelli chair. Arts and crafts evolved at the beginning of World War 1. It was emerged from an attempt to reform redecoration and design in the mid 19th century. This movement was followed by modernism which evolved at the end of World War 1. With the aim of moving forward, it was inspired by the industry and development of technologies. Modernism followed the theme of sleek and clean lines due to the mass production and the industrial theme in comparison to the arts in crafts, which was heavily skill based following the theme of detail and patterns. This meant that art and crafts products were more bespoke in comparison to mass produced, industrial modern products.

The arts and crafts movement was an international trend which began in Britain and expanded to North America, Europe and even expanding into Japan. Modernism began in the late 1940’s in the United States but branched our into Europe. The modernism movement came to an end when it was replaced by the pos modernism movement due to a huge progress in modern communication methods and in mass media. Design has moved on with these elements and has consequently left these behind. People began spending more money meaning they wanted more bespoke products rather than mass produced products. The Arts and crafts emerged in the United Kingdom around 1860, however the spread of the arts and crafts across the Atlantic to the US enabled for it to last a lot longer into the 1920’s. The arts and crafts movement did not adopt and identifiable styles but however it did advocate reform as part of our philosophy and instigated a critique of industrial labour as all modern machines required all workers.

Arts and crafts proponents called for an end to the division of labour and advanced the designer as craftsman. Both movements have become very influential in terms of design, creating the basis for the design we have today.

References: (All information gathered has been collected from the following books)

‘William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement’ by Linda Parry.

‘Arts and Crafts essays movement’ by Rosalind P Blakesley

‘Modern Art and Modernism. A critical anthology’ By Francis Francina and Charles Harrison

‘The arts and crafts movement’ by Elizabeth Cumming and Wendy Kaplan

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