The eldest surviving son, Stickley experienced the rigors of life growing up on a small Midwestern farm, forgoing his formal education in 1870 to continue work in his father's field of stonemasonry and help support his struggling family.

By early 1876, Stickley's mother and siblings moved to Brandt, Pennsylvania, where Gustav worked in his uncle's chair factory – his first formal training in the furniture industry.

In 1901, he changed the name of his firm to the United Crafts, issued a new catalogue written by Syracuse University professor Irene Sargent, and began to offer middle class consumers a host of progressive furniture designs in ammonia fumed quartersawn white oak, as well as chestnut, mahogany, maple and other woods.

Lead articles in the first two issues paid tribute to two influencers of Stickley and Sargent's design philosophies: William Morris and John Ruskin.

Those ideals – simplicity, honesty, truth – were reflected in his trademark, which includes the Flemish phrase Als Ik Kan inside a joiner's compass.

His firm's work, both nostalgic in its evocation of handicraft and the pre-industrial era and proto-modern in its functional simplicity, was popularly referred to as being in the Mission style, though Stickley despised the term as misleading.

[4] Architect E. G. W. Dietrich contributed his design and accompanying essay titled "The Cottage Quality" to the February and April 1903 editions of The Craftsman magazine.

During this year, Stickley's furniture evolved from solid, monumental forms to lighter shapes, relieved by arches, tapering legs, and – in a new experimental line – inlay as decoration.

Within a year the inlay designs would be all but dropped from production save special orders, but the broader emphasis on less massive forms would remain.

Natural materials and soft colors predominated and interiors were invariably prescribed to include simplified moldings, stained wood, and characteristic features such as built-in cabinets and fireplaces with inglenooks for seating.

Although these homes were only rarely innovative in terms of progressive style, designs reflected current approaches to open floor plans, economy of function, and use of novel materials for walls, roofs, and surface treatments.

[9] Although the main house at Craftsman Farms was initially conceived of as a clubhouse for students, lack of interest in the school prompted Stickley to live there with his family instead.

An article written by CBS News stated that "the winning bid set a [auction] record for a piece of furniture from the Arts and Crafts movement.