Arts and Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts movement was an international movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that emphasized local and natural materials, craftsmanship, and a strong horizontal line in architecture and furniture. Inspired by the writings of British art critic John Ruskin, Arts and Crafts, along with the similar American Craftsman style, romanticized the role of the craftsperson and rebelled against the mass production of the Industrial Age. Prominent examples of Craftsman style include the furniture and other decorative arts of Gustav Stickley, first presented in his magazine, The Craftsman; the Roycroft community in Ohio, founded by Elbert Hubbard; the Prairie School of architect Frank Lloyd Wright; and the bungalow style of houses popularized in California. At its height between 1880 and 1910, the Arts and Crafts movement flourished in Asheville. The Grove Park Inn's construction was heavily influenced by Arts and Crafts principles, and today the resort hotel has one of the largest collections of Arts and Crafts furniture in the world. Several hundred Asheville bungalows were also built in the Arts and Crafts style. Today, the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement remains strong in the Asheville area, reflected in the large number of working craft studios in the region.