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Furniture as artistic expression; Manassas builder, others, create exquisitely, handcrafted woodworks.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Ann Geracimos, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A bed isn't merely a bed when a custom craftsman builds it. It's an heirloom invested with history and tradition.

"Art. Function. Heirloom" is the motto of artisan Stewart Crick, whose professional moniker is Stu's Woodworks. Working out of a converted garage in a sublimely forested area of Manassas, he gives full credit to the Arts and Crafts movement for being his technical and spiritual guide. He explains on his Web site (www.stuswoodworks.com) how these words ("three philosophies") embody a value system he assumes his clients share.

The Arts and Crafts movement is associated with early-20th-century American craftsmen who sought a fresh approach beyond the outmoded Victorian styles inherited from Europe, where the movement had its roots.

Its heyday was between 1910 and 1925, roughly between art nouveau and art deco periods, when its denizens sought to integrate machine-made production with individual interpretation in all aspects of domestic design.

In this country, the term often is used loosely to embrace trends still current in some circles in architecture, furniture and decoration.

Mr. Crick and Arnold d'Epagnier of Colesville, both self-taught devotees of the aesthetic - although in different ways - are among about...