yellow room with a shaker style bench
Alongside long trestle tables, the Shakers crafted benches in various lengths to suit their communal lifestyle. This four-meter example from a community house is a striking case in point. Its pine seat rests on six pairs of maple legs, reinforced with cherry wood braces for strength. Birch rods form the slender backrest, chosen for their lightness and flexibility. A testament to the Shakers’ ethos, the design merges practicality with thoughtful restraint. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Alex Lesage, courtesy Shaker Museum, Chatham, New York.

July 14, 2025

Words: Petra Loho

Shakers In Shape: The Enduring Legacy Of A Radical Design Culture

On view through September 28, 2025, The Shakers: Builders of Worlds at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany spotlights the timeless design philosophy of a religious community that helped shape modern aesthetics. Known for their austere furniture, functional architecture, and deeply communal values, the Shakers saw design as an expression of faith, centered on equality, labor, and simplicity. The exhibition spans the full creative output of the Shaker movement, from furniture and tools to textiles and buildings, pairing historic artifacts with contemporary works that reflect the ongoing relevance of their minimalist vision.

Founded in 18th-century England and later established in over 20 American settlements, the Shakers developed a design language defined by clarity, standardization, and utility. Often flattened into the catchall term “Shaker style,” their output was far more than a look. It was a way of life.

Designed by Milan-based studio Formafantasma, the show features more than 150 original pieces, primarily from the Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York. After its run in Weil am Rhein, the exhibition will travel to major U.S. institutions, including the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.

Explore Shaker Style At The Vitra Design Museum

exterior of a blue art structure
2nd Meetinghouse (2025). American artist Amie Cunat draws from the meeting space at Sabbathday Lake, the last active Shaker settlement. But instead of preserving tradition, she inverts it. Stove and bench push through the façade, turning the 19th-century form outward. The message is clear: gathering alone is no longer enough. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Bernhard Strauss.
yellow room with a shaker style bench displayed
Alongside long trestle tables, the Shakers crafted benches in various lengths to suit their communal lifestyle. This four-meter example from a community house is a striking case in point. Its pine seat rests on six pairs of maple legs, reinforced with cherry wood braces for strength. Birch rods form the slender backrest, chosen for their lightness and flexibility. A testament to the Shakers’ ethos, the design merges practicality with thoughtful restraint. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Alex Lesage, courtesy Shaker Museum, Chatham, New York.
exhibit room with shaker style table and lots of other things
Brother Eli Kidder’s 1861 sewing table from Canterbury, New Hampshire—crafted from white pine, bird’s-eye maple, basswood, and maple—illustrates the Shakers’ disciplined approach to making. With its clean lines and practical layout, it reflects a broader mid-19th-century shift in Shaker style furniture. Often built in pairs, sewing tables like this supported communal labor among Shaker sisters, featuring side drawers, pull-out work surfaces, and lower storage that balanced functionality with subtle refinement. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Bernhard Strauss.

How The Shaker Movement Shaped Modern Aesthetics

display of multiple chairs hanging against a wall
Shaker style production chairs refined earlier community models, introducing standardized parts for flexible assembly. Offered in eight sizes (No. 0–7), these chairs could be tailored with or without arms, rockers, slat or tape backs, and an optional shawl bar—designed to soften drafts and add comfort. Uniform in spirit, endlessly adaptable in form. Mid-century Danish masters like Hans J. Wegner and Arne Jacobsen found kindred spirit in Shaker ideals. Børge Mogensen’s 1948 study trip to the U.S. cemented the link, inspiring pieces like his “Hunting Chair” and “Shaker Table,” where function becomes form with quiet precision. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Bernhard Strauss.
room with long table and wooden wardrobe
Shaker communities served like large, self-sustaining families—often with up to 100 members under one roof. Their furniture and architecture reflected this scale, designed to support collective living with smart, space-conscious solutions. Think long dining tables, oversized benches, and pieces built for flexibility, durability, and seamless integration into shared spaces. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Alex Lesage, courtesy Shaker Museum, Chatham, New York.
shaker style oval boxes on a desk
Shaker oval boxes, typically crafted from maple, feature gracefully steam-bent rims forming a smooth elliptical shape, joined by swallowtail fingers and secured with copper tacks. Their fitted pine headers and handcrafted precision reflect the Shakers’ enduring commitment to functional beauty and simple elegance. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Alex Lesage, courtesy Shaker Museum, Chatham, New York.
side table
This Shaker side table from Mount Lebanon, New York (c. 1820–50), embodies the movement’s hallmark simplicity and precision. With its round top, elegantly turned pedestal, and gracefully arched tripod base, the piece reveals a philosophy where design was dictated by need, not ornament. Photography courtesy of the Shaker Museum, Chatham, New York.
desk and a prayer room on top of a platform
Inspired by the Shaker fusion of faith and function, Danish designer Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm brings a contemporary lens to their legacy. For Halstrøm, making is an act of devotion—her vision of the workspace as a place where craft becomes serene ritual reflects a modern reverence for Shaker principles. Photography © Vitra Design Museum/Bernhard Strauss.

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