“Don’t make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don’t hesitate to make it beautiful.”Shaker design philosophy (via Joshua Porter)
“Don’t make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don’t hesitate to make it beautiful.”Shaker design philosophy (via Joshua Porter)
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Kaleb, thanks for posting this quote. It is an excellent philosophy to live/design by. I’ve heard it said before that Shaker design is America’s best contribution to design.
The rest of the quote is quite nice also:
“If it is not useful or necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to make it.”
“If it is useful and necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to enhance it by adding what is not an integral part of its usefulness or necessity.”
“And finally: If it is both useful and necessary and you can recognize and eliminate what is not essential, then go ahead and make it as beautifully as you can.”
The quote comes from the book Shaker Built:The Form and Function of Shaker Architecture by Paul Rocheleau, June Sprigg, and David Larkin.
comment by John Dilworth 2 hours later
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