“small things make perfection,
but perfection is no small thing.”

One of the best known Shaker industries was the production of wooden oval boxes.
They were first produced at Mount Lebanon N.Y., in 1798. Oval boxes were sold in nests of graduated sizes. The full set consisted of 12 sizes but they were also sold in smaller groups.
It was not until 1833 that they were called oval boxes; until then they were referred to as nests. Each size box was designed for a purpose in the household or workshop.

The simple appearance of the Shaker oval boxes belies the detailed work of their construction which involves several processes. By 1833 The Shakers had refined manufacturing to a fine art, using both machine and hand finishing. The slender fingers,called swallowtails by the Shakers are not simply aesthetically pleasing, they allow the wood to expand and contract without buckling. They are held in place with copper tacks that do not rust and spoil the wood. Each lid is made to fit the base and the Shakers believed that, ‘the lid should ‘sigh’ when it is lifted’.
From the basic oval box we have developed a range of products using the same principles and manufacturing methods.


Email: info@bespokehaker.com
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