How did an 18th-century American free church inspire generations of artists, architects, and designers around the world? The Shakers were a religious group for whom design and architecture were an expression of beliefs surrounding community, labor, and social equality. The new exhibition, The Shakers: A World in the Making, examines how this resulted in meticulously crafted furniture and vernacular architecture that continue to resonate centuries later. Bringing together a wide range of Shaker furniture, architectural elements, tools, and commercial goods, paired with newly commissioned works by contemporary artists and designers, The Shakers: A World in the Making reveals the complex social, material, and spiritual context that created the Shaker style, and what possibilities its values offer today.

Founded in England in the late 18th century, the Shakers emigrated to the American colonies in 1774 where they established more than twenty distinct communities, from Kentucky to Maine. Within these communities, the Shakers created furniture, domestic objects, and architecture that were soon hailed for their radical simplicity as well as their innovative use of standardization and serial production. The group’s contributions to design and architecture are still celebrated today but often interpreted purely in terms of their aesthetic. Instead, The Shakers: A World in the Making explores how Shaker design was deeply rooted in the Shakers’ religious practice of worship and labor by bringing together more than 150 original objects, most of which have been loaned from the world-leading collection of Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York.

In addition to historic works, the exhibition also includes new research and commissions from seven international contemporary designers and artists. These commissioned works engage Shaker artifacts in dialogue, with each artist approaching the Shakers and their material culture from a unique and personal perspective—a link between past and present that allows visitors to forge new connections with one of history’s most compelling experiments in alternative communal living. Through this mixture of contemporary and historical material, the exhibition explores the enduring resonances of the Shakers in the 21st century, including topics such as gender, inclusion, and sustainability. The Shakers: A World in the Making challenges the conventional narratives that surround Shaker design and grounds it within the broader contexts that shaped it.