The Shakers: How an Early Christian Sect Defined One of America's Most Enduring Craft Traditions

"In the trailer for The Testament of Ann Lee-the Amanda Seyfried drama in theaters now-you'll see much of what you might expect from a film about early American religion. There's spirited devotional dancing, god-fearing testimony, a transatlantic journey, and-wait, was that a wood lathe? Watch the actual film, and you'll clock plenty of camera pans to long peg rails, sometimes holding upside-down wood chairs, in spartan worship halls emblazoned with a tree of life."

"Among lovers of Americana and antiques, Shaker furniture is well-known (and highly collected) for its elegant simplicity of form, craftsmanship, and ability to blend seamlessly with other eras of design. You'll find "Shaker cabinet" as a standard off-the-shelf option at big-box stores like Home Depot; but today, that nomenclature is often removed from the reality of Shakerism as a sect of Christianity in America's early days."

""The mythology around the Shakers is so rich," says Mea Hoffman, a curator at Vitra Design Museum in Germany, which recently co-organized the exhibition Shakers: A World in the Making with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia. (The Shaker Museum, designed by AD100 Hall of Fame firm Selldorf Architects and currently being built in Chatham, New York, loaned most of the show's objects.)"

Shakerism was an all-consuming belief system rooted in celibacy, community, and confession, founded by Ann Lee in the mid-18th century. The Testament of Ann Lee, starring Amanda Seyfried, portrays spirited devotional dancing, god-fearing testimony, a transatlantic journey, and scenes of Shaker craftwork including turnery and peg rails in spartan worship spaces marked by a tree of life. Shaker furniture is celebrated for elegant simplicity, fine craftsmanship, and adaptability across design eras, with “Shaker cabinet” now a common commercial term. An exhibition titled Shakers: A World in the Making was co-organized by Vitra Design Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, with objects loaned by the Shaker Museum housed in a Selldorf Architects–designed building in Chatham, New York.

Read at Architectural Digest