Buying Oak Furniture

Mission furniture is an actual American art form that continues to be popular as both a collector’s item and present day furniture design. The actual beginnings of this design seem to be unknown, although the tale most often quoted is that Mission furniture was first manufactured by the congregation of a San Francisco church about 1890. Having no money, the parishioners chose to fabricate the furniture themselves, producing pieces resembling furniture commonly found in the Spanish mission stations of Mexico and also in the western and southwestern areas of the United States. A different tale has the Native Americans helping the monks make pieces of furniture for the newly constructed missions in California and Mexico. The resulting creations were uncomplicated, sturdy, utilitarian chairs and tables, devoid of frills and elegant in their simplicity, strength, and visual appeal.

Mission-style furniture came to be well known in the United States between 1890 and 1914 and was an element of the Arts and Crafts movement that originated in Britain. This movement stressed the importance of preserving the handcrafted pieces of furniture, and was a departure from the more lavishly designed furniture associated with the Victorian period. The design seemed to be heavily affected by the straight lines and uncomplicated structure of the Japanese furniture of the times, however, Mission style furniture is native to America, and it only maintained the basic philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement. When it became popularly accepted, the term “Mission Furniture” was assigned to this particular style, and while it had started in the California, it was initially a New York-based designer, Joseph McHugh, who began producing Mission furniture for the masses.

Given that manufactured goods of that time were often weak in design and quality, the Arts and Crafts movement pushed the revival of individual craftsmanship. Shoddy, mass-produced products would be supplanted with attractive things created by professional hands, and this furniture mirrored the ideals of the movement. Mission-style furnishings were simple, elegant and practical, and manufactured from natural, unpainted wood and additional earthy materials.

Mission-style furniture in those days was built almost solely of weathered or fumed oak. Characterized by straight lines, and mortise, tenon, and dowel joinery, this type of furniture was commonly free of ornamentation, however large nail heads, simple cut out patterns or hand-hammered copper appliqués were occasionally chosen for decoration. Both original and modern-day Mission furniture is characterized by straight, uncluttered lines and the simple charm of quarter-sawn white oak using features of joinery, including through tenons, corbels and butterfly joints. Only a handful of furniture styles have maintained the attractiveness of Mission style furniture. From its sturdy lines and handcrafted origins, this furniture has been at the forefront of solid oak and wood furniture for over a hundred years

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