The Shakers: A World in the Making
07.06.2025 – 28.09.2025, Vitra Design Museum
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, labour 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.
An exhibition organised by the Vitra Design Museums, the Wüstenrot Stiftung, the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia in collaboration with Shaker Museum.
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.
An exhibition organised by the Vitra Design Museums, the Wüstenrot Stiftung, the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia in collaboration with Shaker Museum.
Publication date: 27.5.2025
Images: Key visual: "The Shakers. Builders of Worlds and Designers" © Vitra Design Museum, Graphic design: Matt Kay, A Practice For Everyday Life based on photos by Alex Lesage