Arts & Crafts period designers—wherever in the world they may have worked—often looked-back to their country's (or culture's) past for design inspiration: history, literature, folklore, ancient craft. Their efforts to "revive" familiar aesthetic elements or symbols of the past were part of the movement's attempt to channel "the good old days"—to recreate those better times when life was quieter, simpler, purer.
The Gothic Aesthetic was frequently used as a "historic touch-back" in American and European Arts & Crafts design. Its rustic, hand-wrought and wonderfully-antiquated sensibility helped lend a feeling of warm archaism to the newly-rendered object. And most Turn-of-the-Century Westerners were somewhat familiar with the Gothic Style (or the Gothic Revival from the Nineteenth Century).
The quarter-sawn oak dresser box, shown above, has Gothic-inspired copper strap work—which suggest the heavy wrought-metal hinges of an antiquated door. The interior of the box is lined with curry ultrasuede, making it suitable as a jewelry box or a place to safe-keep a collection of pens or watches. Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome box.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248