Arts and crafts from the Cotswolds.

The hilly region of Gloucestershire in the west of England known as the Cotswolds has been a destination for writers, artists, architects, craftsmen, and tourists for centuries. The numerous quaint villages that dot this largely agricultural region seem frozen in time, for many of them were established in the Middle Ages, when the region was well-known throughout Europe for the fine quality of the wool produced there. In 1871 William Morris, father of the arts and crafts movement, was drawn to the Cotswolds, where he acquired Kelmscott Manor, a sixteenth-century house near Lechlade in Gloucestershire, which he owned until his death in 1896.

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Morris's presence left a deep imprint on the next generation of architects and craftsmen, fascinating and well-educated men who are grouped together as the Cotswold school. The innovative pieces of furniture they designed are the subject of an exhibition entitled Modern Pastoral: Cotswold School Design, 1890-2006 being held at the John Alexander gallery, in Philadelphia between October 3 and November 25. The more than fifty pieces on view were made between the 1890s and the present by designers such as Ernest Gimson, Gordon Russell, and Sidney and Edward Barnsley.

Much of the furniture in the exhibition was made from local woods using traditional techniques and tools. The success of these simple pieces stems from their ...