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Article: The western design conference
- Article from:
- Southwest Art
- Article date:
- October 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Sabot Publishing, Inc. Fall 2002. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The Evolution of Western Style
Western design has it roots in the log sections cowboys perched upon while settling in around the campfire. It took form in the rough furniture the settlers crafted and the introduction of western motifs such as wagon wheels, horseshoes, and branding irons during the height of the dude-- ranch era in the early 1900s. But the man who gave western design its aesthetic vocabulary was Thomas Molesworth, who founded the Shoshone Furniture Company in Cody, WY, in 1931. Molesworth embellished pine with native materials: leather, applied half-poles, fringe, brass tacks, antlers, burls, even hooves. He chose icons of the West-cowboys, Indians, horses, flowers, and ...