Inspired by William Morris

A brief Overview of a Revolutionary Designer

It would be hard to imagine that anyone with any level of interest in furnishings would not have heard of William Morris and surely they would have seen his distinctive designs.

This was going to be a fairly brief post but as I researched more about Morris’s life, I found his story to be quite fascinating….

Morris was born in Walthamstow, London in 1834. By all accounts he had a happy and comfortable childhood. His father was a successful broker leaving Morris a large enough inheritance that he would never need to earn an income.

His beliefs about manufacturing methods formed when he was quite youg. Aged 16, he refused to enter the Great Exhibition with his family. For many Victorians the exhibition represented Britain’s world leadership in industrial technology. For young William it was not in good taste with poor design and quality. He already had a strong affinity with craftsmanship.

He went to Oxford to study Theology and there he met and became friends with Edward Burne-Jones who became a famous painter as well as a lifelong friend of Morris’s. They read books by contemporary reformers which included John Ruskin, Charles Kingsley and Thomas Carlyle. Morris became aware of the deep divisions in society. This sparked his interest in trying to create an alternative to the dehumanising industrial systems that produced poor quality ‘unnatural’ objects.

After University he trained as an architect and worked in this field for only 8 months. He left and began a career as an artist. His good friend Burne-Jones had a connection with Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It wasn’t long before Morris worked with Rossetti as part of a team painting murals at the Oxford Union.

Whilst working in Oxford, Morris met Jane Burden who became his wife. She had striking good looks and became a model for members of the Pre-Raphaelite group for the next 30 years.

Morris commissioned architect Philip Webb to design and build a home for him and his wife in rural Kent. Morris had been discussing the idea of a craft based artistic community with his friend Burne-Jones since they were students. Now the result was Red House which they moved into in 1860. The couple did not like the furnishings available to them, so they spent the next two years decorating the interior of Red House with help from members of their artistic circle. The decoration included large murals and hand embroidered fabrics which hung on the walls. By 1861 Morris and his friends had set up an interiors company; Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. Everything was hand crafted. This was in contrast to the mainstream which focused on industrialised ‘progress’. He honed his love of the natural world with his love of medieval style which so evident in all of his work.

In the first few years, the company produced wall paintings and embroidered wall hangings which were similar to the ones which adorned Red House. The company did not make much money in the first few years but it did win commissions to decorate new churches. The company became well known for their work in stained glass.

Working out of Red House was to become less practical and Burne-Jones’s young son died. This lead to Morris selling Red House in 1865. He moved back to London with his young family.

By the late 1860’s the company won two prestigious decorating commissions. The first was for the South Kensington Museum which later became the V&A. The second commission was at St James’s Palace. During this time Morris was writing the poem “The Earthly Paradise”. The poem had an anti industrial message and it established Morris as an important poet. He was producing his first wallpapers which were inspired by English gardens and hedgerows. He researched and used historical printing and dyeing methods. His thorough understanding of the manufacturing processes was to become a hallmark of Morris’s career.

By 1875 Morris became the sole director of the re-named and re-invented Morris & Company. Over the next ten years he designed printed fabrics, woven fabrics and wallpapers along with new designs for carpets, rugs, embroidery and tapestry. In 1877 Morris opened a fashionable shop in Oxford Street selling his furnishings. By 1881 he had been successful enough to buy Merton Abbey Mills, a textile factory in South London. He consolidated all of the company’s workshops. This made looking after production much easier.

As time progressed Morris became inreasingly politically active forming a new group called the Socialist League. He left the running of the business to the senior management team which included his daughter May and senior manager Dearle. He never lost interest in tapestry and during the last five years of his life he worked with Burne-Jones and Dearle on a set of tapestry panels based on the Search for the Holy Grail.

He focused on his writing which was successful. Morris’s vision was of a world in which art or ‘work pleasure’ is enjoyed by all. In 1892 Tennyson died, Morris was offered and turned down the Poet Laureateship. Morris set up The Kelmscott Press. Sixty-six books were made, all printed and bound in medieval style. Morris designed the typefaces, initial letters and borders. The most famous was an illustrated book of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. It was published a few months before Morris died in 1896.

He died aged only 62. At the time it was said that he died of TB. More recent theories suggest that his death was more likely caused by cancer.

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”

So my short journal entry is just the bare bones of his story and it leaves me wanting to keep reading and with lots of questions. I want to know more about his life, marriage, friends. I want to see Red House and know more about his Oxford Street shop. I want to know what May went on to do. What of the rest of his friends and family?

What strikes me is that he stayed so true to his beliefs and passions. He was great at collaborations. He worked hard with deep knowledge of the processes. For now I will leave the research on Morris……and I am leaving; full of inspiration and awe.

“Beauty …..is a positive necessity of Life” William Morris 1834-1896

There are many resources available to study Morris. I enjoyed an introductory article by the V&A, I read information from The William Morris Society and I am currently reading William Morris, Masterpieces of Art by Michael Robinson which has many good images of Morris’s work. I would be happy to hear about your research or thoughts on Morris.