It has been close to a quarter of a century since the late British Arts and Crafts designer William Morris made his infamous 1880 remark, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” Like his European and American peers who are disciples of the Jugendstil, Art Nouveau, Vienna Secession and Prairie movements, which also challenge the fussy Victorian aesthetic of today, he promulgated the notion of total design: Everything in our homes should reflect an elegant, cohesive demeanor. We are finally able to follow both these mandates, as evidenced by an array of new products. Best of all it is not necessary to subscribe to the notion, championed by the Brits, that the machine must go. It is now possible to produce exquisite items that reflect fine craftsmanship by machine (a point even defended by Frank Lloyd Wright in his daring 1901 Hull House lecture “The Art and Craft of the Machine”). These mass-produced objects may prove we favor style over substance, but now good design can be appreciated by all classes.
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UPDATES AND DETAILS
The rest of the story
In order to put together this issue of the magazine, certain liberties had to be taken. A few of the photographs, for instance, are not precisely from 1904 but are of that era. The stories have been reconstructed from various sources, including histories, biographies and Tribune files.
Page 27: Clockwise from left: Vase, $1,800, and teapot, $180, at the Neue Galerie: Museum for German and Austrian Art’s Design Shop, New York (212-999-9496 or www.neuegalerie.org). Chair, $1,300, at Manifesto, Chicago. Cruet set, $232, at Luminaire, Chicago. Wallpaper, $120 per 11-yard roll (to the trade), at Hinson & Co., Merchandise Mart, Chicago. Tape measure, $195, at Tiffany & Co., Chicago.
