ri g in at in g around the 1880s the Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the most influential, profound and far-reaching design movements of modern times. Its leading architects, artists and craft-designers like Morris, Ashbee and Lutyens in the UK, Lloyd Wright and Stickley in the US, Hoffman and Saarinen in Austria were united in promoting the moral superiority of `honest` design and natural materials in an industrial age.

With its division of labour the Industrial Revolution had devalued the work of the craftsman turning him into a mere cog on the wheel of machinery.

The aim of` the Arts and Crafts designers was therefore to re-establish a harmony between architect, designer and craftsman and to bringhanderaftsmanship to the production of` well-designed, affordable, everyday objects. This pioneering spirit of reform and thevalue it placed on the quality of materials and design, as well as life shaped the world we live in today. E S.A.