The Influence of Immigration on American Furniture
The United States as a culture was built less by indigenous peoples and more by foreign peoples. Each one came here from vastly different regions of the world and for vastly different reasons. As they arrived, with or without possessions, they brought with them traditions and styles that began to blend and homogenize into a nation. While for most societies change is a very difficult and slow thing, these people were cast in to a new world and forced to adapt quickly.
The land was plentiful in hardwoods and other timbers, unlike many of the countries that they immigrated from. Where once lumber was scarce and techniques for using it had to be thrifty now the settlers had wood everywhere they went. This affected not only how they built but what and where. The study of the economics, the societies, the cultures and even the arts of the era can begin to tell us how America’s style developed. Even something as common place in the homes in Europe as the Windsor chair took on an American flavor when it met up with the native pine readily available and easy to work.
We take for granted that everyone has always sat on chairs or around a dining room table. This is not true. Many cultures that immigated here were from countried where families gathered for meals served on the floor and mats were used as bedding. Slaves and Asians were unaccustomed to the chair until they came to America. The sofa was only indulged in by the wealthiest of the early Colonists. Even architectural concepts like the porch and the furnishings for it that followed were unheard of before the journey led them to America.
Americans are the beneficiaries of the styles of many nations and although diverse America has come to be known by a common identity. A signature style of high quality is the furniture crafted by Amish woodworkers from Northern Indiana and available for your American home today. This community of European descendants not only brought their artisan expertise from the Old World but adapted the ideals of many highly sought after craftsmen like the Shakers.
Tags: american design, american furniture, Amish Furniture, coloial furniture, pine furniture, windsor chair