What is Shaker Style anyway?

Simple yet clean lines – this timeless design and the history behind its craftsmanship make Shaker kitchens the perfect fit for almost any style of home. Shakers goes back to 18th century in England.

The Shakers only ever numbered 6000, at their peak, before the Civil War in America. Their small numbers may be partially explained by their vows of celibacy. Founded in England in the 18^th Century, the Shakers have always drawn interest for their simple lifestyles, their female lead religious lives and most enduring, their furniture design and craftsmanship. It is often, wrongly, assumed that the Shakers were conservatives in their attitudes but they were actually great innovators. They believed in technology, unlike other communities like the Luddites and the Amish the embraced technology as it increased efficiency and saved them time which they believed belonged to God. They believed in racial equality and no social hierarchy between ages.

From chairs to clothes pegs, Shaker designs show the clean lines and absence of adornment, a rejection of all things European originally, and later favoured by the modernists of the mid-20th century. In fact, they directly inspired furniture by modernists Kaare Klint, Borge Mogensen and Gio Ponti the Danish Modern movement known for its simplicity, purity of form, and grace.

The Shakers were among the first in America to try mass production, and they were so successful at it that the Shaker name became synonymous with quality. Mortise and tenon joinery and dovetailing are a hallmark of the Shaker style.

Here is our previous post about Shaker – A bit of Shaker history