Gustav Stickley

Stickley's Craftsman furniture, made in his workshops near Syracuse, New York, from around 1900, is honest to the point of bluntness: quarter-sawn white oak, square legs, exposed mortise-and-tenon joints and leather seats, built to outlast the family that bought it. His magazine The Craftsman sold the idea of a simple, well-made home to the American middle class, along with house plans to put the furniture in. It is heavy and not cheap, but it ages beautifully, and the Morris-style reclining armchair with its adjustable back is still one of the comfiest reading chairs going.