Arts and Crafts Movement: Meaning and Definition of

Arts' and Crafts' Move"ment

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a movement, originating in England c1860 as a reaction against poor-quality mass-produced goods, that sought to revive earlier standards of workmanship and design, conceiving of decoration and craftsmanship as a single entity to be applied to the handcrafted production of both utilitarian and decorative objects, and that produced furniture, textiles, wallpaper, jewelry, and other items, often decorated with floral motifs.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.