…..and why is their furniture, styled in the late 1700’s, still popular today? Shaker furniture, elegant in simplicity, functional and durable, is a timeless style at home in both traditional and contemporary settings.
Like the fine antiques produced a century ago by diligent Shaker craftsmen, today’s classic designs are hand crafted one at a time in solid cherry, maple and oak.
The Shakers are a small Protestant religious denomination founded in Manchester, England in the mid-1700’s as a dissident group of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Derisively called “Shaking Quakers” because their meetings included both singing and dancing. Their manner of worship stirred up “rage and enmity” and they decided to leave England.
The first group arrived in a small hamlet near Albany, New York in 1774. By 1824 the Shakers had 19 self-sufficient communities from Maine to Indiana. The essential principles of the Shaker faith, as it developed in America, included celibacy, equality of sexes, community of goods and withdrawal into their own communities from the “World” (their term for all non-believers).
Shaker furniture evolved as simple, functional pieces of solid hardwood hand selected by the craftsman for color and figure. For the most complete selection of shaker style furniture, check out the Amish Workbench Furniture website: www.amishwbf.com where you’ll find collections to satisfy every period preference:
• Dutch Creek Collection: solid construction and clean lines to make a statement in any décor
• Heritage Collection: efficient design with two-tone highlights
• Modern Shaker Collection: softened rustic features for a versatile interior design
• Valley Shaker Collection: rustic and homey reminds of a simpler time
• Warren Collection: simplicity with a twist provides some unique design variations
…..you don’t have to be a Shaker to enjoy furniture that will last a lifetime in both traditional and contemporary settings.
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