Stickley, Gustav, 1858-1942

Gustav Stickley was a cabinetmaker and architect; he created Craftsman furniture and was a leader of the Arts and Crafts movement in America.

Born on March 9, 1857 in Osceola, Wi., he was the oldest of Leopold and Barbara Stoeckel's eleven children. He was apprenticed as a stonemason at the age of 12. A few years later, his father ran of, leaving Gustav responsible for supporting his family and forcing him to drop out of school in the 8th grade. When he was 16, his family moved to Brandt, Pa. where his mother's brother owned a furniture factory. Gustav was employed there and by the time he was 21, he was manager and forman of the Brandt Chair Company. On September 12, 1883 he married Eda Simmons.

In 1884, Gustav moved to New York and with two of his brothers, Charles and Albert, opened a furniture business in Binghamton. Although Gustav left the firm in 1888, it continued as a sales operation under the name of Stickley Bros., with another brother, George, joining the firm. After leaving Stickley Bros., Gustav served as vice president of the Binghamton Street Railway and supervised a workshop at Auburn Prison. In 1893, Stickley set up a furniture manufacturing business, Stickley-Simonds in Eastwood, Syracuse; his brothers, Leopold and J. George came to work for the company. In 1898, Simonds left the partnership and Stickley visited Europe to meet European leaders of the Arts and Crafts movement. Upon returning to the United States, he changed the name of his firm to Gustav Stickley Company and began designing a new line of furniture. Gustav set up a profit sharing plan and organized his company as a guild. He called his production shop The United Crafts, reflecting the influences of the guild system and philosophies espoused by John Ruskin and William Morris.

Stickley founded "The Craftsman" magazine in 1901 to promote and extend the principles established at United Crafts. Stickley took a growing interest in the total environment of the home and extended his work to include architecture and textile design. In 1905, he moved the offices of the Craftsman to New York City. As his business grew, competition increased. His brothers, who founded L. & J.G. Stickley, Inc. around 1900, were among his competitors. Although Stickley was involved in a variety of social and professional activities, including the New York Athletic Club, the Engineer's Club, the National Arts Club, and the Society of Craftsmen, he developed an interest in farming in about 1908. In that year, he purchased 600 acres of land in Morris Plains, N.J., which became the site of Craftsman Farms. Products from the farm were served in the Craftsmen Restaurant on the top floor of the Craftsman Building in New York City. Eventually, he opened a school for boys on the property. While Stickley was operating the farm, his Homebuilder's Club had grown and his furniture was sold by more than fifty franchises. A few years later, the Craftsmen Contracting Company was organized to build Stickley designed homes. He also owned sawmills in the Adirondacks, where wood for Craftsman furniture was milled. By 1913, Stickley united all his enterprises under the name of The Craftsman, Inc.

On March 24, 1915, two years after the opening of the Craftsman Building, Gustav Stickley was declared bankrupt. The last issue of "The Craftsman" appeared in December, 1916 and in 1918 the farm was sold. A 1918 issue of "Furniture World" carried a notice for a new Stickley Company, listing Leopold as president, Gustav as vice president, and J. George as treasurer. A year later, Gustav was no longer associated with the firm. The new company produced Craftsman-like furniture at Eastwood until 1927, when a line of Colonial reproductions began. Leopold and J. George manufactured furniture into the 1960s.

Cabinetmaker, architect.

Stickley was the publisher of THE CRAFTSMAN magazine. The magazine began publishing designs for Craftsman homes in 1903.