Who are the Shakers?

Shaker Design, by Timothy Rieman and Jean M. Burk

by Timothy D. Rieman and Jean M. Burks

Originally published in: The Complete Book of Shaker Furniture by Timothy D. Rieman, Jean M. Burks. Publisher Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York. 1993.

Built-in cupboard and case of drawers, fourth floor, Church Family dwelling House, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1830. Butternut and pine, with fruitwood and porcelain knobs, chrome yellow paint, red wash, and cast-brass and forged-iron hardware, h 94 5/8”, w 41 3/4”. Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, Massachusetts

IN THE PROCESS of making a piece of furniture, the cabinetmaker or craftsman draws from experience and observation to create a structural, technical, and decorative solution to the problem of design needs. He develops an appropriate approach based on a range of alternatives in his particular cultural and physical environment. These are drawn from his own expectations and abilities, as well as his goal to satisfy the needs of the client. For the Shakers, the client was the community as a whole. While design is often thought of as a creative endeavor, the process is also grounded in reality and involves the craftsman’s training, which often has a traditional and conservative bias; the influence of a printed design; the development of new forms from the reorganization of older parts; and the adoption of new materials, tools, and techniques. There are a number of factors, both conscious and unconscious, that affect design. Tradition, function, and specific directives all dictate the way a craftsman might choose to use the design concepts.

Shaker Counter Shaker Counter by Seth Blanchard
Fig 1. An example of symmetry: Counter Mount Lebanon, New York, c 1830 Fig 2. An example of symmetry: Counter by Seth Blanchard, Harvard, Massachusetts, 1853

Furniture can be appraised in a systematic way by evaluating the form and the nonstructural elements of the object and then observing the effect of the spatial surroundings on each piece. The following principles will be invoked to clarify the concept of Shaker design and identify the diverse elements essential to the evaluation and discussion of Shaker furniture. Although form, construction, and function are inevitably interdependent in a design, it is possible to separate and study the principles under which they operate. By using these concepts, one can identify those artistic elements that characterize Shaker furniture and make it discernible from worldly counterparts as well as recognize forms unique to individual Shaker communities.

An analysis of form draws on the concepts of balance, hierarchy, pattern, proportion, and scale, all of which contribute to the shape of the object. The Shakers were consciously aware of these guiding principles which one Believer verbalized when describing the Great Stone Dwelling at Enfield, New Hampshire. “He supervised the construction of their most splendid edifice—which I have described with an architectural taste which has introduced to the interior a combination of space, beauty, symmetry and the light and splendor of a summer’s day”.

Cupboard and Case of Drawers Counter attributed to Grove Wright
Fig 3. An example of symmetry: Cupboard and case of drawers, Mount Lebanon, New York, c. 1830 Fig 4. An example of asymmetry: Counter, attributed to Grove Wright, Hancock, Massachusetts, c 1830

Balance entails a state of equilibrium between opposing forces. Symmetry, the distribution of equivalent forms and spaces on either side of a vertical or horizontal axis, is the most commonly used way to achieve balance. Bilateral symmetry, in which the parts on either side of the axis are mirror images of each other, is central to most eighteenth and nineteenth-century worldly furniture. For example, in a chest of drawers, a sideboard, or a cupboard, the case is divided visually by a vertical axis or center line in which each half mirrors the other. Although some Shaker furniture follows this common pattern, other Shaker cabinetmakers regularly moved away from this rigidly held aesthetic and developed many asymmetrical forms, which can achieve balance by presenting equivalent but nonmatching forms. Presumably, an important motive was to build a functional as well as aesthetically pleasing piece. Unbridled by worldly fashion, customer whim, or the traditionally conservative apprenticeship system, Shaker craftsmen were able to create furniture to suit the community’s specific needs, which often involved developing new combinations and layouts.

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