Stickley’s Signature Inlays: from the Workshop to Your Home

May 12, 2026 Darcy Smith

Of designer Harvey Ellis’s contributions during his brief period at Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Workshops, none have become as iconic and lasting as his decorative inlay designs. Arts and Crafts furniture generally avoided gratuitous ornament, but as described by The Craftsman magazine in 1904, this type of inlay served a purpose: “to relieve and make interesting what otherwise would have been a too large area of plain, flat surface” in a way that also “emphasizes the structural lines”. Today, Ellis’s stylized inlays—floral abstracts, Viking ships, woodland scenes—are transformative details that Stickley lovers crave. Enjoy a look at these intricate works of art and the process that goes into their creation!

Harvey Ellis Sideboard and Arm Chair with Inlay

Raw materials in miniature

Exceptional inlay is only as good as its ingredients. While metals like copper and pewter were used widely in early 20^th-century designs like Harvey’s, natural expansion and contraction of the surrounding wood over time can cause loosening and delamination. Today’s process at Stickley uses a palette of ultra-thin raw and dyed woods in place of metals (with the exception of fine copper rings that encircle knobs on pieces like the Harvey Ellis Sideboard shown above). And we apply the inlay design within a veneer to further prevent delamination of the tiny slices of wood.

Antique Stickley inlay with tinted woods and pewter, Today’s all-wood version of the design,
found on a Mission Deck in The Stickley Museum found on our Harvey Ellis Dining Table.

Another material that lends itself to fine inlay is mother-of-pearl, which provides an iridescent shimmer on pieces like our Dragonfly Ornament.

A variety of Harvey Ellis inlay designs still used in modern Stickley furniture

Completing the puzzle

A team of expert craftspeople based at our Stickley International plant are the magicians behind every inlay. With a combination of specialized technology and painstaking hand assembly, they shepherd each design through a series of careful steps:

· Veneer sheets, just a half-millimeter thick, are created by splicing and edge-gluing pieces of rift-sawn oak (chosen for its simple straight grain and added stability).

· The inlay outline is laser-cut from the veneer sheets.

· Component wood-veneer parts, also laser-cut, are fitted by hand (and for the tiniest pieces, with the point of an X-Acto® blade!) within the outline and held in place on a backing of adhesive tape.

· All pieces are pressed perfectly flat and flush, then laminated in place.

· After the inlaid veneer is affixed to the furniture, the design is covered with a precisely cut vinyl mask to protect it as the full piece is stained. Later, the mask is peeled off and final lacquer is applied.

Meadowflower Four-Door Sideboard

Inlay beyond Harvey

In recent years, a variety of new product designs have let us explore additional inlay styles not based on Harvey Ellis but that are executed just as skillfully. On our Meadowflower Sideboards and Nightstand, you’ll find a modern design of cornflower and mint, inspired by Victorian floriography and symbolizing a message of comfort in difficult times. A series of Mission Rose products includes an inlay adapted from an original by the Stickley Bros.

Meadowflower original inlay Mission Rose inlay

And in 2025, as we celebrated a Stickley milestone, inlay played an important role. An elaborate Stickley Bros. inlay was recreated for our 125^th Anniversary Fireside Bench that includes an elongated floral design with dimensional shading achieved by sand-burning the wood, as well ribbon flourishes and a series of small fleur-de-lis figures. In each case, the craftsmanship and beauty of these inlays are a hat-tip to the remarkable design legacy left to us by visionary designers like Harvey Ellis.