While the Arts & Crafts movement was a reaction to (and a rejection of) the rapacious Industrial Revolution, one has to concede that this design movement came at a time when mechanized production did indeed make manufacturing less expensive (thereby making nice items more affordable for more people). The English Arts & Crafts frame, shown above, is just such an example.
This frame is clearly an Arts & Crafts design: the stylized flowers, the interwoven, "whiplash" stems, the embrace of the metal's aesthetic nature. But this frame was not laboriously hand-tooled; instead, this steel photo frame was carefully embossed on a metal shop die-press. Then the steel was patinated with a warm, copper-ish finish. Great artistry went into designing the frame—and painstakingly making the tool die which would do the stamping. After a protracted set-up period, the frames could then be produced in large numbers—in England—at a most-affordable cost.
The frame holds a 3.25" x 3.25" square photo, however, the "aperture" (that is, the window through which the photo is shown) is 2.75" in diameter. It's a handsome frame, made at the historic confluence of good taste and modern production methods. Click on the photo above to learn more about it.
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).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.