Reduction as a principle; spirituality as a driving force. From 7 June to 28 September 2025, the Vitra Design Museum will be holding a comprehensive exhibition to highlight the creative power of the Shakers. What was once an expression of a spiritual way of life continues to inspire architecture, design, and art around the world.
When the Shakers emigrated from England to the American colonies in 1774, they founded not only religious communities, but also their own way of living together — a lifestyle characterised by simplicity, functionality, and social utopias, which gave rise to a distinctive design culture. The exhibition ‘The Shakers: World Builders and Designers’, showcases over 150 authentic artefacts, ranging from furniture to tools, and juxtaposes them with contemporary pieces by artists including Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Finnegan Shannon, and David Hartt. In doing so, it sheds new light on an aesthetic that is much more than just a style — it is the expression of an ethically based approach to design.
Design and Spirituality
The exhibition, curated by Studio Formafantasma, is divided into four themed rooms. These focus on the communal life of the Shakers, their design principles, economic thinking, and spiritual legacy. ‘The Place Just Right’ explores worldviews and spatial structures, featuring objects such as a four-metre-long bench. The video installation ‘POWER’ by Reggie Wilson links the dance rituals of the Shakers with African-American forms of expression. ‘When We Find a Good Thing, We Stick To It’ showcases the Shakers’ design principles: simplicity, functionality and timelessness. In ‘Every Force Evolves a Form’, entrepreneurial spirit and technological openness take centre stage, as illustrated by chip boxes, tools, and works such as Christien Meindertsma’s wicker coffin. The final section, ‘I don’t want to be remembered as a chair’, showcases the spiritual heritage of the Shakers. Particular highlights here are the so-called ‘Gift Drawings’ — visual visions that the Shaker sisters recorded as divine inspirations in the 19th century. Following its premiere in Weil am Rhein, the exhibition will continue its tour in the USA.
The exhibition is complemented by a catalogue of the same name, published by the Vitra Design Museum in 2025, which contains essays, interviews and art-historical contributions.
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