The Plain and Simple Tradition of Amish Furniture

Soft-spoken, traditionally dressed Amish women are referred to, within their community, as "plain women". Their daily attire includes no frivolous ostentation or brilliant color or fripperies to distract the eye. They wear no makeup and don't indulge in beauty rituals. The Amish tradition holds that the physical beauty of the person is not important and that inner beauty is evident in their behavior and traditional life.

Amish furniture follows this same sort of tradition. The beauty is reflected in the functionality and in the simplicity of the materials used. Amish furniture is made of high quality wood, without the use of laminates or papers or paint. The Amish craftsman doesn't need to do anything artificial to enhance the wood, since part of the craft is to match and contrast the colors and grains in the woods used.

The beauty of an Amish chair is emphasized by the plain aspect of its design and sheer functionality. The Amish do not use much color in their creative process. By not using color and paint to cover flaws, the Amish simply prefer not to have any flaws in the furniture they make.  Long ago, most Amish furniture was made by hand with hand tools and sold mostly within the local community. But, as the Amish recognize the necessity for some power tools and have sought help with using the Internet for sales, current Amish furniture is sold throughout the nation to appreciative collectors and homeowners.

Iconic in the minds of many owners of Amish furniture is the deep blanket chest or hope chest. A blanket chest is exactly that, a deep chest used to store blankets and bed linens when they are not in use. A hope chest, which is essentially the same design, belongs to a young woman in hopes of marriage. She uses her hope chest to store the household items she's made for her future home. Traditionally, a father or elder brother made the chest and it stayed in the young woman's family for generations to come. The everlasting quality of the blanket chest/hope chest tradition transfers over to the accepted image of Amish furniture as a high quality, well crafted, beautiful product that will last for a long time and beloved by generations.