The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1889-05-01
FANcIEs IN FURNITURE.
Changes in the Popular Demand for Ger
tain Woods or Designs.

styles come and go in furniture al
most as rapidly rs millinery said Mr..
Clingmau of the Tobey Furniture com.
pany to 4 reporter Of the Chicago NelUS,
Interference to the trend of taste in house
furnishing. Every little while there
is popular craze for some particular
wood or design, and even though there
be no pronounced demand of this sort
there is always a reaching out after
novelties. Thus every manufacturer
is obliged to get out new designs
periodically to hold custom. All we
can do is to make suggestions; it is the
public that passes the Judgment and
creates style. As a rule the more
unique the designs are the.better they
take, but in the best line of goods /
think taste is taking decided turn to
the better.
''In the new styles of furniture the
designs are simpler and the orna-
mentation less elaborate and more
chaste. The same principles are now
followed in eabinet-making as in
architecture. Barring special cases,
which may be regarded as exceptions,
there is n growing disuse of orna-
mentation, purely as such. Designers
are seeking more and more the beauty
/ that results from simple, even severe
lines and fine finish. In some styles,
especially of tables and bedroom sets,
this is almost carried to excess. The
aim, of course, is to produce striking
effects without such an expenditure of
labor in manufacture as to prohibit
sale, and in'so far as designers now sin
in i,f / ell
right side.
Taste is now gravitating toward the
antique. With the exception of few
patent devices, such as folding beds,
office furniture, and revolving book
cases, nothing really new has been out
for years. The Eastlake patterns, so
popular some time ago, where moth
ing but crude adoption of the gothic.
Painted furniture, once so popular,
was novel only in its finish. So, too,
with stained woods, which are used
only for cheap goods. All these are
now out of date, and designers are
busy working over Romanesque, re-
naissance, Louis w., and colonial
patterns. We adapt and unite the
different types just as modern archi-
teets, and manyof the most pleasing
effects are obtained in this way. The
popular fad keeps us within the lead
ing strings of the antique, apd so far
as this requirement is met we are left
free to make is many violations or
combinations of art principles as we
choose.
"Lack of ornamentation in no wise
means cheapness of make. Carving
is cover for defective wood and often
careless workmanship, but in the
smooth natural finish of woods the
material must be perfect. and the work
manship faultless. Natural finish, de-
signed to bring out the beauty of the
material, is now the rage, and it is
doubtless stop in the right direction.
precedence. Cherry probably follows
next. Birch and curly maple are
much used, since they give q pleasing,
dainty effect. Walnut, which for some
time has been out of favor, is gradu-
ally coming back again. Oak ahd
cherry are not what walnut used to be
the staple goods-and l presume it
will not be long before they, too, will
yield to the popular fancy and take
the obscure corners of retail establish
ments. Mahogany will always be
popular, but it is too expensive ma
terial to DO of wide use. Good oak
can be had for $50 n thousand, and
the same quality Of mahogany costs
$3.50, and when the former will take as
fine finish and give as pleasing al
effect rs the latter il is bound to catch
the masses.
Good furniture to-day is much
cheaper than the same quality of
goods was few years ago. The secret
of Gie matter is not because wood or
labor is cheaper, for material is act
ually more expensive and labor not
essentially changed, but BECAUSE ma
chine work is moro largely taking the
place Of hand work, even in the best
goods, and because, as | said before,
beauty is sought on differant lines. A
large share of the carved work now
seen on furniture is done quickly and
cheaply by machines which are little
less than a curiosity in the way they
work out designs. There are some
classes-of furniture, of course, such as
upholstered chairs and sofas, in which
there is not SO noticeable change,
either in style or price; Tapestries and
pushes are now in vogue, as hereto
fore, and there is no difference in these
radical enough to deserve notice.
Leather is used chiefly for library and
dining-room furniture. Brass trim
minGs are on the Wanen