- The
Guild of Handicraft
Iinspired
by the socialist writings of John Ruskin, The Guild of Handicraft
was established by Charles Robert Ashbee in the East End of London
in 1888. 
It
started as a Ruskin reading class but graduated into an arts and
crafts class and by 1887 had become the School of Handicraft.
The pupils trained by craftsmen graduated into the workshops which
led to the foundation of the Guild of Handicraft in 1888.
 In
1890 the Guild moved into it's own premises in
the East End where it was to remain for 12 years.
In
1898 after the death of William Morris, Ashbee
acquired the Kelmscott Press near Lechlade in Gloucestershire
and continued to run it under the name of the Essex House Press.
The
Cotswolds already had associations with the Arts
& Crafts movement with Ernest and Sidney Barnsley and
Ernest Gimson working in the area and in 1902 driven by the desire
to create a workers community the Guild uprooted itself to Chipping
Camden.
The
move was ambitious and although being closer to Ashbee's socialist
ideals it put a great financial burden on the Guild. In order
to promote sales a retail outlet was kept in London. The combination
of high running costs and Ashbee's laudable insistence on maintaining
a high quality handcrafted product inevitably took its toll and
in 1908 the Guild went into liquidation. 
The
Guild had a wide and varied production including jewellery, woodwork
and furniture made to Ashbee and Baillie Scott designs but it
is perhaps the beaten metal that they are best remembered for.
Ashbee's
work is distinctive and has a strong identity, elegant forms often
embellished with flowing wire work, semi-precious stones and enamel
work. Much of the output was produced in silver and silver plate
but brass and copper were also used. The emphasis was on hand
working with no attempt to remove hammer marks and actually using
them as a decorative feature.
Although
the venture had been a financial failure it did leave behind a
legacy and many of the workers carried on working independently.
It also spawned several prominent designers and craftsmen who
were highly influential in their own right and who helped teach
in some of the craft schools.
John
Pearson, one of the founder members of the Guild and one of the
first metalwork instructors, went on to teach at Newlyn and then
to open his own workshop and to produce for Liberty & Co.
John
Williams, another early member of the Guild, helped in an advisory
capacity at the Fivemiletown metalwork classes in County Tyrone
in Ireland and at the Newton class in Cambridge.
Newlyn
As
the nineteenth century was drawing to a close the fishing village
of Newlyn in Cornwall was set to become one of the major centres
for hand crafted metal. Since the 1880's with its rugged beauty
the village had become an important community for artists with
a common interest in "plein air" painting. In 1884 Stanhope
Forbes moved to Newlyn and soon was seen as a leader of the group.
Attracted not just to the surrounding scenery their work also
embraced a sort of social realism and focused largely on the working
community .
It
was perhaps this interest and affinity to the working man that
led the artist JD Mackenzie to establish the Newlyn Industrial
class. Initially it was seen as a means of occupying the weather-dependant
fishermen in times of idleness and a range of skills including
woodworking and embroidery were taught. As an area rich in natural
deposits of copper it seemed inevitable and fitting that this
would become the main focus of the class. With the arrival of
John Pearson in 1892 came the expertise that was to ensure the
class's longevity. Pearson was already regarded as a leading craftsman
designer and had taught in the metalwork department at the Guild
of Handicrafts until his dismissal in that year.
Unsurprisingly,
the majority of the classes output drew upon the subject matter
that was most familiar to them. Aquatic scenes of fish, seaweed
and a variety of marine life were hand beaten into sheet copper
and raised or formed to produce decorative but also useful objects.
Fruits such as apples and oranges were also a common theme. The
bulk of their output consisted of everyday items such as bowls,
dishes, trays, candlesticks, jugs, caddies and boxes but great
attention was given to the quality of the production. The copper
used was of a good heavy gauge and always well finished. Seams
were riveted and usually the marks of the hammer blows are clearly
visible making decorative elements out of the means of construction.
Initially the wares were retailed through the Newlyn Art Gallery
but with Pearson's London connections it was not long before it
was also retailed through Liberty & Co. Although unclear,
it is thought that Pearson worked with the Newlyn class for about
7 years. Mackenzie remained an able and energetic director there
until the First World War and in addition to the copper production
also oversaw brass, pewter and silver work including jewellery
and enamel.
Keswick
 At
around the same time in the North of England, Canon Hardwicke
and Edith Rawnsley were establishing classes in repousse metal
work, spinning, weaving and wood carving in Keswick, Cumbria.
The Keswick School of Industrial Arts, like the Newlyn workshop,
was deeply rooted in the tenets of the medieval guilds and a philanthropic
belief that the life of working people could be improved through
craft. As it had been mined in Keswick during the reign of Elizabeth
I, copper was a natural choice of material although silver, brass
and later stainless steel were also commonly used. Initially the
classes were held in local parish rooms and taken by Edith but
as the classes grew in size workshops were specifically built
and the help of outside expertise was enlisted. This included
Arthur Simpson and Harold Stabler who was head of design for two
years from 1898.
A
large part of the Schools output consisted of pieces made by the
pupils to the designs of the tutors. Although less stylised than
the work from Newlyn, metalware from Keswick is nonetheless distinctive.
Influences included Norse art, Iznic and Renaissance designs and
a panoply of subjects after the antique. This was fuelled in no
small way by the Keswick museum, which supplied much loan-material
to the school as study material. Students were also encouraged
to develop their own work and designs that had to be passed by
committee before being produced. In an effort to make the School
financially self-sufficient work produced was sold but only if
it had reached a certain standard and had passed the scrutiny
of the board. Student work of a high enough quality was awarded
the KSIA stamp but as the school expanded they eventually took
on full time craftsmen to make the venture more viable. As at
Newlyn the product was mainly utilitarian - trays, bowls, vases,
jugs, candlesticks etc, although special commissions were also
undertaken.
Although
the school's role as an educator and an aid to the community had
always been paramount, commercial concerns came more to the fore.
An effort was made to separate the two elements in order to protect
the educational side but the reality was that the school also
needed to be a financial success. Adapting to changing markets
and recognising that the Arts & Crafts movement had had its
day the production changed quite radically in the early 1930's.
Heals in London had undertaken to retail KSIA work on the condition
it was produced in the more voguish stainless steel. By 1933 stainless
steel accounted for over half of the schools production. Due to
the less malleable nature of the material and the taste for Art
Deco, designs tended to become more simplified and less ornate.
Though the school underwent many evolutions and changes to remain
viable, over the next few decades it started to lose the battle
against machine produced stainless steel and in 1984, it's centenary
year, financial crisis finally forced the School to close down.
Birmingham
Guild Of Handicraft
Established
along the same lines as Ashbee's Guild of Handicrafts and inspired
by Ruskin and Morris, it had grown out of the Birmingham Kyrle
Society, a philanthropic organisation aiming to add refinement
to working people's lives. Originally crafts were only an element
of the Society's agenda but in 1890 the Birmingham Guild of Handicrafts
was formed to concentrate on this aspect and develop it. In 1895
the Guild disassociated itself from the Kyrle Society and became
a self-supporting co-operative workshop and a limited company.
Whilst realising the need for financial viability the Guild was
still dedicated to producing high quality, handmade articles and
keeping the welfare of the craftsmen in mind. The greatest part
of their output was from the metalware workshop but they also
produced furniture, books and a quarterly magazine called The
Quest. The chief designer and head of the metal workshop was Arthur
Dixon but other associates included A E Jones and Thomas Birkett.
The
Artificers' Guild
The
Artificers' Guild was founded in 1901 by Nelson Dawson from his
workshop in Chiswick but was acquired by Montague Fordham (one
time director of the Birmingham Guild of Handicrafts) in 1903.
He transferred the Guild to his gallery in Maddox Street and Edward
Spencer became chief designer. Influenced quite heavily by John
Paul Cooper, who was already working for Fordham, Spencer established
a distinctive in-house style that was to remain with the Guild
until their demise in 1942. They produced mainly decorative metalware
and jewellery in silver, ivory and semi-precious stones but also
did work in copper and brass, often silver-plated.
The
Bromsgrove Guild Of Applied Arts
Walter
Gilbert, cousin of the sculptor Alfred Gilbert, established the
Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts in 1890. The Guild originally
had no workshops of its own and was a loose amalgamation of artist
craftsmen not all of whom lived in the Birmingham/Bromsgrove area.
Mostly working to commission and employing artists when and as
they were needed, their ranks included Arthur and Georgie Gaskin
and Joseph Hodel. Besides interior commissions they were most
noted for metalwork and jewellery.
Yattendon
In
the same vein as the Keswick and Newlyn evening schools, a metal
work class was established in 1890 in Yattendon, Berkshire. Mrs
Waterhouse (wife of the Quaker architect Alfred Waterhouse who
amongst other commissions designed the Natural History Museum)
was instigator and benefactor paying for materials used and being
responsible for the majority of the designs. Most of their output
was copper although some early work was also done in brass. Some
of their wares were sold through Liberty & Co in London until
the class was disbanded in 1914.
Duchess
Of Sutherland's Cripples Guild
The
Duchess of Sutherland's Cripples Guild mainly produced hand beaten
copper ware, sometimes silver-plated and usually of a simple design.
Fivemiletown
Metalwork Classes
A
small metal working class set up in County Tyrone Ireland led
by Mrs Montgomery. The school was visited by John Williams (Guild
of Handicrafts) in the mid 1890's during which time he helped
in an advisory capacity and provided them with some designs.
Newton
Class
Set
up in Cambridgeshire. Like the Fivemiletown group, it received
advice from John Williams.
Hayle
 Neither
a Guild nor a School but worthy of mention for adopting the ethos
of hand-finished art copper. Hayle copper was produced by the
company J & F Poole of Copperhouse in Hayle, Cornwall. Their
output was a combination of machine and hand production. The piece
was initially die-stamped on a zinc mould and then hand finished
to give it a crafted look. The amount of hand finishing was variable
and consequently there is a marked difference between a highly
worked piece and one that is less so. Although the better pieces
exhibit good craftsmanship they seldom equal the quality of Newlyn
copper. Subject matter and range was similar to that of Newlyn
although Glasgow School motifs such as the Mackintosh rose were
also favoured.
This
is by no means an exhaustive list of the many Guilds and Schools
that helped popularise the aesthetic and ethos of the Arts &
Crafts movement.
The
Glasgow School of Art played a major part in developing Britain's
reputation world-wide as one of the creative and innovative leaders
in Applied Arts at the turn of the twentieth century.
There
were also many other groups throughout the UK who either were too
short lived or who never gained much commercial or artistic success.
Information on many of these is scarce.
The
fortunes and successes of the individual Guilds and Schools were
varied but as a whole their importance cannot be overestimated.
They helped shape the artistic and, to some extent, the social zeitgeist
of a whole generation.
They
closed a chapter in the history of British design, breaking away
sharply from the excesses of Victorian design and creating a design
ethic where suitability of material, fitness for use and an elegance
of line are paramount and helped to create the framework for good
modern design.
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The
technological upheaval of the industrial revolution transformed
Victorian Britain from a largely agrarian and rural society into
a country with many urban conurbations, with the working classes
enduring terrible conditions and mindless repetitive work. 
In
1861, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co was established
with the idea of bringing high quality interior decoration and fittings
to the British populace. Initially there were seven partners, the
other four being Ford Madox Brown, Charles Faulkner, P.P. Marshall
and Philip Webb; but by 1874, after varying financial success it
had become simply Morris & Co.