The Shakers: A World in the Making reframes one of design history's most cited influences — not as a footnote to modernism, but as a living ideology whose commitments to equality, communal life, and functional making remain productively unsettled.
About This Book
Founded in the 18th century, the Shakers built a material culture of radical simplicity from a set of principles — social equality, communal property, pacifism — that gave form and purpose to every object they made. This publication, accompanying an exhibition designed by Milan-based studio Formafantasma, refuses the nostalgic reading of Shaker design as mere proto-modernist precedent. Instead, it positions Shaker furniture, architecture, tools and commercial goods in dialogue with contemporary artists and designers, asking what this particular communal experiment might mean now. Thematic essays, detailed exhibit studies, and new object and architectural photography construct a multivalent portrait of a movement whose influence on design, craft, and material culture has never been fully reckoned with.
Key Features
- 284 pages of thematic essays, detailed exhibit studies, personal contributions by participating artists, and contemporary object and architectural photography
- Contributors include Glenn Adamson, Aaron Betsky, Jeffrey de Blois, Amie Cunat, David Hartt, Chris L. Halstrøm, Mea Hoffmann, Christien Meindertsma, Sarah Margolis-Pineo, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Shoshana Resnikoff
- Exhibition design by Formafantasma
- Published by Vitra Design Museum GmbH
What You'll Discover
- How Shaker theology directly shaped material production — labour and design understood as expressions of faith rather than autonomous creative acts
- The ways contemporary artists and designers are entering into critical dialogue with historic Shaker objects, testing the movement's enduring relevance
- An expanded view of Shaker production beyond furniture — encompassing architecture, tools, and commercial goods seldom foregrounded in design histories
- How the Shakers' commitments to social equality and communal property read as ideological propositions from a present-day perspective, not merely historical curiosities
About the Author
[Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 284
- Dimensions: 23 x 28.2 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783945852668
- Publisher: Vitra Design Museum GmbH
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Designers, architects, and cultural historians drawn to the intersections of craft, ideology, and material culture — and anyone interrogating what communal making might look like today.