I’ve always loved the simple complexity of the Arts & Crafts movement’s typography, architecture and furniture, the late 19th century ancestor of the Bauhaus and European Modernism.
The British-born, Los Angeles filmmaker and graphic designer Arnold Schwartzman has authored numerous books on the architecture and stylistic movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His latest book, Arts & Crafts: From William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright, focuses on a group of British and American craftsmen who vehemently rejected the mass production of the Industrial Revolution. William Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene were among these like-minded artisans who formed a “Round Table” to create a movement that embodied a visionary style of the Golden Age of craftsmanship. This superbly photographed book is a delicious banquet of design.
About Steven Heller
Steven Heller is the co-chair of the SVA MFA Designer /Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program, writes frequently for Wired and Design Observer. He is also the author of over 170 books on design and visual culture. He received the 1999 AIGA Medal and is the 2011 recipient of the Smithsonian National Design Award.View all posts by Steven Heller →