A well-crafted exhibition

Inspired by the writings of the Victorian art critic and socialist John Ruskin, the Arts And Crafts movement could be said to be as much a social movement as an aesthetic one. Most effectively put into practice by the designer William Morris, its far-reaching influence can certainly be felt and seen in our present-day design culture.

Heeding the detrimental effects of rapid industrialisation and the subsequent marginalisation of the craftsman, it promoted the return of medieval-style guilds and workshops, where the artisan had equal status with the artist. The simple, streamlined furniture of Charles Voysey and Charles Rennie Mackintosh clearly offered a radical departure from fussy Victorian design, though the movement rapidly incorporated the need for mass production.

Moving beyond Morris and his British followers in the 1880s, this excellent exhibition focuses on how the movement inspired an international return to the traditions of folk art and the crafted object; how, for instance, it inspired the great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his development of a modern vernacular in domestic architecture, in which furnishings were integral to the building itself.

And, as late as the 1920s, it shows how Japanese designers incorporated this Western style with its Mingei (Folk Craft) movement. The exhibition beautifully recreates a Mingei Japanese interior.

Eventually giving rise to Art Nouveau, it is, however, in Germany that it took root most successfully, and it can be seen as the rightful ancestor to the austere modernism of the Bauhaus.

Until Jul 24, Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road SW7, daily 10am to 5.45pm (Wed and last Fri of every month to 10pm), £10, £6 to £8 concs. Tel: 020 7942 2000. Tube: South Kensington