Your favorite furniture style?

[Von Bickley]

Just curious. What is your favorite furniture style. I like Craftsman/Mission Style. I have never made any Greene&Greene, but I also like that.

Thanks to Jim Becker for mentioning "Shaker" style. I forgot to include that in my post.

[Rob Luter]

I'm an Arts and Crafts/Mission/Craftsman fan and that's generally the style I work in. My bride and I are very fond of Stickley, Limbert, and the related makers. Greene and Greene is a favorite too

[Jim Becker]

I'm kind fond of a mixture of Shaker (Thos Moser) and Nakashima. Blending of Shaker, Asian and Craftsman works for me, too.

[Jon Grider]

I admire many styles but love the clean lines and functional form of well done MCM. Derek Cohen is one of my heroes here on SMC. His work in extremely hard woods and hand cut joinery is almost as jaw dropping as a view from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to me.

[Mike Henderson]

I've always like the Queen Anne style. The furniture made by our ancestors pre-American revolution is pretty amazing.

Look at the work of the Townsends and Goddards of Newport RI, for example.

Mike

[Curt Putnam]

I like most well done stuff but have a special fondness for campaign (easy on the brass though.)

[Charlie Barnes]

Similar to some above, I prefer Stickley/Mission, Greene & Greene and Shaker, although I can appreciate most any style that is executed well. However I do tend to struggle with mid-century modern even though it is really popular in some areas. Our dining room set that we inherited from my wife's grandmother 30 years ago is mid-century modern. I really want to make a new set in a different style, but keeping peace in the family prohibits this!

[Mike Henderson]

I like most well done stuff but have a special fondness for campaign (easy on the brass though.)

A while back, I picked up a copy of "British Campaign Furniture: Elegance under Canvas 1740 -1914". Has pictures of some interesting campaign furniture. Recommended.

ISBN 0-8109-5711-6

Mike

[Ron Citerone]

Colonial and Shaker.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Sturdy and Comfortable are my favorite styles, personally.

[Ed Aumiller]

My wife loves Queen Anne style.... so that is what I had to learn to make... I now like it also..

[Charlie Jones]

Shaker and Craftsman. I like some of the Cabin rustic but I have never made any.

[Bruce King]

The two families that Mike mentioned led me to this $12 million desk made by one of them.
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/desk-sold-12-million-john-goddard-died-broke/

[Warren Lake]

thats encouraging. 70 million for a 62 Ferrarri GTO and huge for paintings. Nice to see some furniture also in the stratosphere.

[Phil Mueller]

Federal style is my current favorite. And on the other spectrum I like organic/rustic designs as well.

[Alan Lightstone]

Craftsman (though we have none in the house because it's just the wrong style), and Scandanavian Mid-Century Modern (not sure if there's another name for that). Broke my heart to donate some stunning teak pieces on our last house move.

[Ole Anderson]

The only real furniture I built other than my computer desk/hutch was this Mission style bed that "justified" my bandsaw and mortising attachment purchase:

[Bob Riefer]

I have been looking at a lot of Sam Maloof designs lately (but am a bit nervous to try to create that style myself, not sure where to start learning). I'm unsure whether his work fits into a specific category and if there are others that produce similar style (but would be curious to know from the group here)

[Bill Carey]

Mission / arts and crafts / craftsman styles is what got me started. Limbert and Stickley. Beginning to appreciate Mackintosh more and more. And Krenov cabinets. Greene and Greene is also a favorite but the few G&G pieces I've made seem out of place where ever I put them. Maybe because I've viewed their stuff in situ and when taken out of the amazing environment that G&G created for their work the individual pieces loose something.

[michael langman]

I'm not sure if Krenovs work is a style, but I really like his designs and how they lend more towards the feature of the wood itself, and the simpleness of his designs.

[Tom M King]

Federal ,

[Rod Sheridan]

I like A&C and Shaker style, most of my work is of those 2 types....Rod

[Paul Haus]

As most have said: Stickley, Mission, Craftsman, Amish styles appeal to me the most. IMO they have a honest style to them that most other types of furniture do not exhibit. These styles also go well with locally available wood.

[Derek Cohen]

There is a theme running through designers in Europe in the mid 1900’s, such as Berge Mogensen and Hans Wegner (there are, of course, many, many others), the Shakers in the USA in the mid 1800’s, the tranquility of Japanese furniture over centuries, and the more recent attention given to makers, such as Jim Krenov, George Nakashima and Sam Maloof.

We may refer to it as a focus on negative space or designs of simplicity, but my wife just remarks, “I don’t like clutter”. We call it minimalism. My view is that the art of minimalism is found in the ability to remove the distractions and present an illusion of a bigger whole by incorporating just the essential elements. Uncluttered lines. Graceful curves. Sensitive proportions. Details that blend in harmoniously, and then delight when discovered.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Doug Dawson]

There is a theme running through designers in Europe in the mid 1900’s, such as Berge Mogensen and Hans Wegner (there are, of course, many, many others), the Shakers in the USA in the mid 1800’s, the tranquility of Japanese furniture over centuries, and the more recent attention given to makers, such as Jim Krenov, George Nakashima and Sam Maloof.

We may refer to it as a focus on negative space or designs of simplicity, but my wife just remarks, “I don’t like clutter”. We call it minimalism. My view is that the art of minimalism is found in the ability to remove the distractions and present an illusion of a bigger whole by incorporating just the essential elements. Uncluttered lines. Graceful curves. Sensitive proportions. Details that blend in harmoniously, and then delight when discovered.
Very well said. That’s how I feel about it too, in so many ways.

[Austin Perera]

I've noticed older styles definitely trend among woodworkers. I think I'm in the minority in liking modern styles, and have noticed there aren't nearly as many resources for building modern style furniture.

[Mike Henderson]

I've noticed older styles definitely trend among woodworkers. I think I'm in the minority in liking modern styles, and have noticed there aren't nearly as many resources for building modern style furniture.

Many of the older styles, such as Queen Anne, or even Federal, are complex to build and require mastery of multiple techniques, such as carving, veneering, inlay, shaping of complex curves, etc. Woodworkers who seek projects with more complexities than mid-century modern or Arts & Crafts often gravitate to the older styles.

The Arts & Crafts movement (around 1900) was partially about simpler furniture that lesser trained workers (or even homeowners) could build.

Mike

[Mel Fulks]

I think when you see the highest quality pieces of great makers it it elevates the whole style. When I look at pics of Samuel McIntyre’s work
Federal is my favorite, but when I see Federal in the window of a local furniture store ...its rating falls.

[Stan Calow]

I like the ideas behind G&G but have never attempted to make anything. As was said, they don't fit a modern house very well. Mission is interesting, but it always reminds me of the heavy furniture at "grandma's house". The furniture I've made has been mostly bastardized Shaker, as in leaning towards the simple, functional and undecorated. And light.

[David Utterback]

G&G definitely followed by A&C with thinner lines. Excess mass when combined with square corners is a turn off. Maloof (which I admire) is beyond my skill set.

[Curt Putnam]

A while back, I picked up a copy of "British Campaign Furniture: Elegance under Canvas 1740 -1914". Has pictures of some interesting campaign furniture. Recommended.

ISBN 0-8109-5711-6

Mike
Thank you! I have the Schwarz book. Now I'll need another.

[glenn bradley]

Another Greene and Greene guy here. I have to limit the pieces I keep for myself. With all those nooks and crannies SWMBO lets me dust any G&G stuff myself. God help the person who tries to bring any mission-style dust magnets into her turf. :D I was lucky that my parents exposed me to all sorts of styles of art, music, architecture and so forth. I enjoy a very wide array of styles but try to focus on only a few to live with.

[Alan Kalker]

Warm, contemporary. Krenov, elements of oriental but with clean lines.

I admire the incredible workmanship of antique furniture. Especially when one considers it was all built with hand tools only.

[Thomas Wilson]

Queen Anne. I like graceful, feminine lines. I have built very little in this style. You have to own a rasp and a drawknife and have a lot of time to make it. I built a small production run of 7 tea tables for mother, mother-in-law, sister, and sisters-in-law that had tripod, snake-foot legs and a dished tabletop. They were supposed to be Christmas presents. It took me to June to deliver the last one. I also built a Queen Anne chisel rack. It is still in progress.

[James Spillman]

Arts and Crafts. I live in western New York. It's a very short trip to visit Stickley in Syracuse. Even shorter is a visit to the Roycroft campus in East Aurora. Roycroft has several showcases each year featuring Roycroft artists work from around the country. Beautiful work.

[Eric Cothern]

Mission and mid century modern style. But the last couple of tables I have built have been more rustic looking, my style but what ever gets me paid to support the hobby