International studio (58.1916)

The National Society of Craftsmen


TABLE DECORATION NO. 3

The national society of
CRAFTSMEN: TENDENCIES IN
TABLE DECORATION
BY MARSHAL FRY
Ti-ie great awakening in our country of inter-
est in the Art of Interior Decoration, and in the
realization of the fact that suitable surroundings
may contribute so greatly to our joy and peace
of every-day life, is bringing us a new viewpoint
from which to regard handwork.
This awakened interest and enthusiasm con-
cerning art in furnishing is becoming increasingly
general, and is causing us more than heretofore
to regard handwork in its relation to its environ-
ment as part of a general scheme, rather than
as something interesting in itself but unrelated
to other things.
It also has the happy tendency of bringing
the various kinds of handwork into greater
prominence, broadening our field of activity
by showing us new ways of applying our ideas

and giving us a larger viewpoint from which
to work.
One of the arts which is being stimulated and
inspired to better things by the modern tenden-
cies in furnishing is that of overglaze keramics.
The recent exhibition of the Keramic Society of
Greater New York showed that many keramists
are working along right lines and striving to
bring their work into harmony with modern ideas-
of design and colour, suitability to purpose, and
right relation to environment.
Since the years during which I was engaged in
keramic work, my varied artistic experiences in
painting pictures, building and furnishing houses,
etc., have brought about a larger sense of rela-
tionships between the arts, and new possibilities-
in the old and familiar crafts. Aly interest in
overglaze keramics has been stimulated through
being enabled to see its important and rightful
place in modern furnishing, and I have come to
feel that the natural and logical connection be-
tween keramics and interior decoration is the

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