The Shakers: A World in the Making

The exhibition The Shakers: A World in the Making aims to both examine the lasting impact of the Shaker legacy as well as the more unexpected facets of their production, ideology and way of life from a contemporary perspective. The Shakers are by far the longest-lived American utopian experiment. Founded by Mother Ann Lee, who emigrated from Manchester, UK to New York in 1774, the Society governed eighteen separate communities from Kentucky to Maine in 1840, counting 4.000 to 6.000 members total. The Shakers faith is based on the belief in the creation of paradise on earth through communal living, gender and racial equality, celibacy and pacifism. Shaker crafts, critical to supporting and fostering daily communal life, involved proto-industrial and small series manufacture of furniture and tools; fabrics and clothing; the invention of small machines and mechanical devices; as well as medication and seeds. With its radically utilitarian and restrained aesthetic Shaker design has gained a central place in the American and modern design canon and inspires generations of designers and architects up to the present day. The exhibition The Shakers: A World in the Making aims to both examine the lasting impact of the Shaker legacy as well as the more unexpected facets of their production, ideology and way of life from a contemporary perspective.