My Friends,

I am sitting here reminiscing the days of old, when many of us were too young to understand what the Arts and Crafts Movement was all about but, in the long run many of us were living those days. Today we ponder just how things were back then, even before our beginning in life and now here we are as adults who love history and now we are trying to relive the movement and what it meant to the average family.

When Gustav Stickley built his custom made furniture, they were so high only the affluent could afford them at first. However they saw their way into the many homes across the land.
After a few Shows and Fairs people began buying them and the trend was started.
Now here we are on Christmas eve in the year 2007, trying to hold on to something that we Arts and Crafts enthused folks have become,
looking for the treasured pieces of furniture made by Stikley Brothers as well as Roycroft, the Greene and Greene Brothers.

As the years go by,the finding of them is getting harder by the day, we should also keep in mind that there are some who are trying to keep the style alive by our own hands and making the furniture in the same manner.

With the markets being flooded with the so called furniture in the various box stores where you look at a display and then drag a box with a typical one in it to our homes and attempt to erect it as per the instructions that leave a lot to be desired.

We as collectors, builders and sellers of these new A&C pieces that are being produced one at a time with tender loving care that the piece will someday be a collectors item.

It behooves us to keep the Arts and Crafts Movement in hand and teach others, especially the younger generation as to what the movement stands for and how to keep it alive.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones