Their focus was to emphasize a new appreciation of traditional craftsmanship using simple forms. They wanted the designs to not only be enjoyed by the consumer but by the creator as well. The philosophy of John Risking was his social criticism of machinery and he believed it the root of social evil. He was concerned about the decrease of rural handicrafts and the traditional skills being lost through modernization. The main controversy raised by the movement was how practical it could be in he modern world.
Progressives claimed that it was trying to relive the past and that the Arts and Crafts Movement could not be taken as practical in mass urban and industrialized society. But the ideas still managed to spread throughout all of Europe and eventually to North America. Though in Europe the movement stood for anti-industrialism in America the ideas ever slightly different. They embraced the movement because they felt it could be enable a new experience in industrial consumerism. The movement flourished in the arts era of Art
Nouveau and Art Deco, especially in the middle class. It initiated the attempts to reinterpret European arts and crafts ideals for architecture and furniture. The designs emphasized the qualities of the materials being used, often using patterns inspired by British flora. They were influenced by the Gothic Revival and were interested in medieval styles, using bold forms and strong colors based on medieval designs. They claimed to believe in the moral purpose of art. Truth to material, structure and function.
The reason for the decline of The Arts and Crafts Movement Is relevant to the 1836 death tot William Morris. Continuing growth of industrialization was a factor as well because as a society we had grown dependent on its convenience. Although there were hundreds of organizations and guilds that were created that carried the spiritual and aesthetic message of the movement and its leaders, over the next decade the interest slowly declined as people looked for the next design fad and the upcoming international tensions that would flare up just before World War l.
