Attributed to William B. Savage

Reusing every part of a spinning wheel, this chair exemplifies 19th-century interests in the impact of industrialization and colonial-era aesthetics. By recycling a device rendered obsolete with the rise of the American textile industry, furniture makers such as William Savage paid homage to the nation’s past, creating new functionality from the remnants of a bygone era. These chairs soon became symbols of a romanticized interpretation of domesticity, and were advertised and purchased as wedding or birthday presents.