Stickley, Then & Now
Did you know that today’s Stickley is a descendant of the original companies?
Five brothers were involved in furniture making, as partners or competitors in an array of companies, from New York to Michigan.
Eldest brother Gustav Stickley, with a factory in Syracuse, is credited with creating so-called Mission furniture, which he named Craftsman.
As publisher of The Craftsman magazine, he became the most influential, despite bankruptcy in 1915. Albert, of Stickley Brothers in Grand Rapids, made “Quaint” furniture through the late 1920s.Charles remained in Binghamton, New York, eventually with the Stickley & Brandt Chair Company.
Having founded L. & J.G. Stickley, in Fayetteville, by 1907, Leopold and John George, direct competitors of Gustav’s Craftsman Workshops, built a business that endured.
That company had absorbed Craftsman Workshops in 1916. In 1974, Alfred and Aminy Audi purchased the factory from Leopold’s widow. Alfred’s father, E.J. Audi, had been the leading distributor of Stickley furniture, and the Audis were unwilling to watch it close. They reintroduced designs by Gustav and L. & J.G. in 1989. The company has grown from 25 employees to 1,400.
Collections include several Arts & Crafts lines as well as traditional and Modern, along with original adaptations. Today, Stickley is under the leadership of Mrs. Audi and son Edward Audi, the company’s president.
The company also operates a museum, in the original L. and J.G. factory, of Stickley brothers’ work. In-depth articles about the history of Stickley furniture may be found on the company website.
Stickley
Manlius, New York
stickley.com
Patricia Poore is Editor-in-chief of Old House Journal and Arts & Crafts Homes, as well as editorial director at Active Interest Media’s Home Group, overseeing New Old House, Traditional Building, and special-interest publications.
Poore joined Old House Journal when it was a Brooklyn-brownstoner newsletter in the late 1970s. She became owner and publisher and, except for the years 2002–2013, has been its editor. Poore founded the magazines Old-House Interiors (1995–2013) and Early Homes (2004–2017); their content is now available online and folded into Old-House Journal’s wider coverage. Poore also created GARBAGE magazine (1989–1994), the first unaffiliated environmental consumer magazine.
Poore has participated, hands-on, in several restorations, including her own homes: a 1911 brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and a 1904 Tudor–Shingle Style house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she brought up her boys and their wonderful dogs.
