The Furniture of To-day 
By THE EDITOR 
T HE general trend in house furnishing now, 
makes for simplicity much more decidedly 
than has been the case for very many years. 
This dominating note is felt as 
much in costly and handsome fur¬ 
nishings as in the fittings of the 
least pretentious homes. The 
Renaissance of hand-made fur¬ 
niture is here and how much that 
means all along the line, from the 
simplest and least costly to the 
most elaborately carved pieces, we 
and the succeeding generations 
will testify. The machine-carved, 
turned, badly put together and 
highly varnished chairs and tables 
which have made hideous the 
homes of the well-to-do in the past 
are fast disappearing, and in their 
place have come the beautifully 
designed and executed creations of 
to-day which stand for all that is 
good in craftsmanship, and fre¬ 
quently we find are exact repro¬ 
ductions of the best that was of¬ 
fered in the days of such designers 
as Chippendale, Heppelwhite, 
Sheraton and their peers. The 
beautiful console table shown in 
the picture is a very perfect ex¬ 
ample of its kind. It is the product of a shop 
where the highest standard of excellence is absolutely 
upheld. An excellent idea of the sincerity of this 
standard is shown in the following excerpt from a 
brochure written by a well-known student of crafts, 
particularly as expressed by the 
modern art movement. He says, 
“Simplicity in the furniture made 
by this firm has been secured not 
for the sake of cheapness but for 
the sake of elegance and truth.” 
He also tells us that the thought 
came to the head of this firm, 
“Why can we not make in Amer¬ 
ica, furniture as good as Europe¬ 
an, but simpler and more organic. 
Furniture that is right in wood, 
workmanship and design, but not 
overcarved or overdecorated. 
* * * * Why should not 
the price be governed by material 
and labor. To this end simplic¬ 
ity was sought, but with no in¬ 
tention of being commonplace or 
ugly. Wood is beautiful in itself, 
why not let it show forth its own 
beauty,—frets, mouldings, 
spindles and carvings prevent good 
finishing, why not let the beauty 
of it depend upon the finishing; 
to have perfect finishing we must 
have perfect cabinet work. The 
design should be made, not for itself but to 
bring out the quality of the wood, and to give the 
FIG. 2—A CONSOLE TABLE FIG. 3 -A HALL SEAT 
l 57 
