Writing Table

This American Arts and Crafts table was designed by Harvey Ellis for the Craftsman Workshops, founded by Gustav Stickley. Responding to growing industrialization, the Arts and Crafts Movement sought a return to simplified aesthetics, honest materials, functional design, affordable pricing and handcraftsmanship. Ellis infused Stickley's straightforward and robust designs with an elegant lightness characteristic of his work.  Here, Ellis' delicate inlaid motifs of pewter and copper recall the designs of Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, while the Viking ships inlaid in the pewter medallions are his own creation. Elaborately detailed pieces such as this table are rare, as they proved too complex and costly to put into full-scale production for the middle class, their intended consumers.