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The artisans' shop
Biltmore, N.C.

Brochure from The Artisans Shop, Biltmore, N.C.

Title The Artisans' Shop
Creator The Artisans' Shop, Biltmore, North Carolina
Subject Keyword :  Biltmore Village, NC ; Asheville, NC ;  Biltmore Forest ; travel and tourism ; education  ; Appalachia ; Industrial Education Association for Southern Mountaineers
Subject LCSH : Artisans' Shop -- Biltmore (N.C.)
Biltmore Industries -- Asheville (N.C.)
Asheville (N.C.) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Architecture -- North Carolina -- Asheville
Historic buildings -- North Carolina -- Asheville
Description This collection contains promotional materials from The Artisans' Shop, Biltmore, NC.  The shop describes its mission as one which "carries on the old traditions in fine furniture carving and construction, china, glassware, carving instructions."
Publisher D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804
Contributor n/a
Date 2003-10-09
Type Collection ; Text ; photographs
Format 1 small manuscript box  
Identifier http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/blake/blake.htm
Source UNCA vertical file
Language English
Relation E.M. Ball Photographic Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804 ;
Coverage spatial  
Coverage temporal  
Rights Any display, publication, or public use must credit the D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.  
Donor virtual
Acquisition  2009-10-17
Citation Biltmore Industries, Asheville, NC , D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804
Processed by Special Collections staff,  2009
Last update 2009-10-17
   

ArtisansShopRecto.jpg (735273 bytes)  ArtisansShopVerso.jpg (1087383 bytes)
HISTORY
The history of the Artisans' Shop is as an extension of the craft tradition begun by Cornelia Vanderbilt in Biltmore Village by Charlotte Yale and Eleanor Vance.  When the two women developed the Biltmore Industries, their reputation as a craft center was wide-spread.  The Artisans' Shop, developed by Robert Valier, was declared to be a continuation of the tradition and craft begun by Mrs. Vanderbilt.   When the Biltmore Industries craft operation was sold and moved to Sunset Mountain, there was a vacuum in the craft industries in the Village. The Valiers' shop excelled in fine furniture workmanship.  The shop supplemented their furniture production with a sales room of fine china and other craft, not created by the Shop's craftsmen.  They also offered craft classes, particularly in wood-carving to any so inclined and promoted the therapeutic value of craft.

In the 1920's the Artisans' Shop was under the direction of Mr. George Arthur, who was formerly employed as the manager of the Biltmore Industriesl.  Skilled at reproducing old furniture in the European style, Arthur also offered classes in furniture making and carving.  Many of the furniture pieces produced by the shop were "one-of'a-kind" reproduced on request from patrons. Many of the works of the craft enterprise were offered in other gift shops in the area. The Munger's Gift Shop, located at the top of Sunset Mountain, is one of the locations for local craft including the Artisans' Shop and Pisgah Pottery.  Its site, on top of the mountain provides one of Asheville's most scenic views.


See the following for additional information:

                          Dodge, William Waldo  (Hunter Library Craft Revival)

                         WCU: HUNTER LIBRARY - Craft Revival

   

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