The Arts and Crafts Era

Enthusiasts

The Arts and Crafts Era

Isadoras

London’s Great Exhibition of 1851 was critiqued as blah and mundane, with nothing to show of artistic merit – displaying nearly all mechanically made items. For critical consumers, this was proof that mechanization did not improve design, but decreased aesthetics and called the taste level into question. These seeds of discontent would take root and grow to become the Arts and Crafts movement.

Owen Jones and John Ruskin created the Arts and Crafts Movement, which began in 1880; they believed in a return to traditional craftsmanship using simple forms as direct opposition to the growth of Industrialism.

Ruskin wrote (the movement’s purpose was): “to bring the pleasure of original creative activity into the lives of men and women of the working classes, and to relieve the monotony to which repetitive mechanical labor condemned them for the greater part of their waking hours.”

The writings of Owens and Ruskin would inspire William Morris who studied architecture and eventually designed patterns for textiles and wallpaper. He became the embodiment of a return to nature and individual craftsmanship, which provided art (beauty) for every home.

On the left is one of Morris’s tapestries (detail of a hare) and on the lower right is a swatch one of his many wallpaper patterns.

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Morris pushed the idea of going back to a medieval guild system to produce goods by hand – goods that were well designed and could not be made using traditional jewelers or manufacturers. The characteristics of Arts and Crafts design were simple: truth to materials, simple forms, natural motifs, and the vernacular (domestic traditions of the British countryside).

Each piece was to be made by one person from beginning to end, but not necessarily by the designer. However, Morris was not against the notion of using machines, if they made work easier and the workmanship of the final product met his exacting standards.

At the end of the nineteenth century, mourning jewelry had become a dominant Victorian tradition. The Arts & Crafts Movement cast a bright light piercing this drab darkness with colorful enamel, shining cabochons, and designs that were influenced by the past and the Far East.

Arts and Crafts jewelry was made to be affordable for the average person. Silver was the more popular metal, while gold was used typically for accents. Pearl, moonstone, turquoise, garnet, opal, and amethyst replaced higher priced gemstones and were often cabochon cut.

Very few earrings were produced at this time because they were not considered en vogue. Necklaces were far more important pieces and they were often pendants with enamel or cabochon-cut gem adornments.

Charles Robert Ashbee designed many significant pieces of jewelry in the Arts and Crafts Movement. His Guild of Handiwork, established in 1888, produced work that was characterized by the use of colored stones and undulating wirework.

Below is the sketch and final result of Ashbee’s opal peacock brooch, circa 1900.

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Below are two pieces designed by Ashbee that both capture the spirit of the Arts and Crafts Movement in beautiful detail.

On the left is an enamel brooch and on the right, a pendant featuring garnets and pearls.

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The Arts and Crafts Era only lasted until around 1910, but it would go on to inspire Art Nouveau, Neo Plasticism, and Bauhaus - and is considered a prelude to the Modernist Art Movement.

Below are some lovely Arts and Crafts Era pieces from the heirloom collection at Isadoras. We have amazing pieces of jewelry from many different eras. Visit us in-store or online and spend some time with our collection!

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