Furniture and Interiors

Dictionary entry

1. Shaker Design 1780s–1900s / Style

   The plainness practiced as faith by the American Shaker communities: ornament renounced, furniture and rooms perfected through use and honest workmanship — a forerunner of functionalism and Scandinavian design.

2. Bentwood (Thonet) 1859– / Technique

   Thonet's chair No. 14 reduced steam-bent beech to a few parts: the first industrial furniture, shipped knocked-down and mass-produced — rational components and elegant curves at once, often called design's point of origin.

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