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| Wassily Chair also known as the Model B3 chair designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925-1926 at the Bauhaus, in Dessau, Germany. Français : Une chaise Wassily, appelée aussi « Modèle B3 », dessinée par Marcel Breuer en 1925-1926 dans le Bauhaus de Dessau-Roßlau, en Allemagne. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| Amish family riding in a traditional Amish buggy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Amish buggy on a road in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Nederlands: Amish buggy op een weg in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The Amish Tradition of Handcrafted Furniture 2016
Amish furniture is to
modern furniture
what gourmet cooking is to frozen
TV dinners! While the latter will do the job,
it imparts no pleasure and aesthetic satisfaction to
the senses, nor the
conviction that this is the best you can get! Amish made
furniture is among the
best quality furniture that is made today. It is made in a way very distinct
from the soulless,
mass produced furniture that we see so much of, which is
wholly lacking in character. There is a reason why Amish made
furniture is so highly prized and valued by people; especially people with an
eye for quality craftsmanship. That reason is the traditional method utilized
to make Amish handcrafted furniture. The
Amish people are some of very few
communities that still adhere to an old fashioned way of life, choosing to
eschew modern comforts and conveniences and preferring instead to do things the
old fashioned way, the way that makes Amish furniture life literally for
generations. Amish furniture is to modern furniture what gourmet cooking is to
frozen TV dinners! While the latter will do the job, it imparts no pleasure and
aesthetic satisfaction to the senses, nor the conviction that this is the best
you can get!
And indeed Amish handcrafted furniture is among the
best quality furniture that is made today. It is made in a way very distinct
from the soulless, mass produced furniture that we see so much of, which is
wholly lacking in character. The material used to make Amish furniture is also
very different from other modern furniture; the Amish craftsmen use only
genuine hard wood which grows slowly and is consequently extremely durable and
long lasting. They make no use of
particle board, or ply or other artificially
prepared raw materials for their furniture. This is the reason that Amish
furniture made today gives the appearance of furniture that may have been made
a hundred years ago. Also since these styles of furniture never go out of
style, they become family heirlooms to be passed on from generation to
generation.
Amish furniture is made while paying a
lot of attention to each individual item of furniture and it is also this
largely non-automated procedure used to make this furniture that makes it so
durable and beautiful. Traditionally the Amish minimize use of electrical
appliances and so the tools that they use to make the furniture are also
usually not mechanized; rather they are hydraulic or pneumatic. Plus there is a
lot of attention paid to individual details of each item of furniture and the
finishing and polishing of each item is always done painstakingly by hand.
Amish made furniture is not just about
items of furniture around the house. The Amish are also skilled in crafting
home accessories, lawn and garden ornaments,
gazebos, play houses, outdoor
furniture and even wooden toys! Imagine beautiful, traditional toys handcrafted
for a child; such as
farm toys, trains and planes, puzzles and games, dollhouse
furniture and more! A far cry from generic cheap plastic toys that flood the
market today! These are the kinds of toys that a child would treasure for their
very uniqueness. Also imagine if you will, some unusual even whimsical touches
to your home and garden: fruit baskets, chopping boards, wooden chests, wall
décor, hooks and hangers, pretty much anything, or perhaps a beautiful,
customized gazebo for your garden or lawn furniture like gliders, rockers,
chairs, swings, tables and footstools, bridges and arbors that could grace the
most elegant garden.
