Who is William Morris, Designer

William Morris
English Poet and Artist
Giclee Print
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Ever since the mid 1700s there had been intermittent interest in Gothic style which reached its heights with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They scorned contemporary art, seeing it as stylised and soulless. They looked back to the medieval period for inspiration with work characterised by dreamy romanticism and meticulous detail. John Ruskin was the philosopher behind the Brotherhood and the later Arts and Crafts Movement. He believed that making objects by machine had a dehumanising effect on the worker by removing him from the artistic process and even from nature itself.

If Ruskin provided the intellectual inspiration, eventually it was William Morris who became the leading light of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Perhaps it began while Morris was working as an articled clerk to Gothic Revivalist architect, George Edmund Street who believed that an architect should influence all aspects of a building including the interior decoration and textiles. There Morris met Phillip Webb, a senior articled clerk, who was destined to become a close friend and collaborator.

By this time they were involved with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood started by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais whose painting had produced such a change of direction for both men.

William Morris Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Their Families, 1874 Giclee Print
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Chair by William Morris,
Upholstered in Original "Bird" Woollen Tapestry, circa 1870 Giclee Print
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In 1856, Street moved his practice to London. There Morris shared rooms with his old friend Edward Burne-Jones. Unable to buy furniture they liked, the two young men designed their own. This was made by a local carpenter and would have looked at home in any medieval castle. The chairs had scenes on them painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti while Philip Webb designed a wardrobe (see it in the Ashmoleum Museum, Oxford) which was painted by Burne-Jones. Another piece, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London, and perhaps the most famous, is a long settle with a dresser above, painted by both Rossetti and Burne-Jones.

William Morris undertook his first and only attempt at embroidery for these rooms. Now known as the 'If I Can' embroidered wall hanging, it illustrates his philosophy of design. He believed that a designer should understand the practicalities of transferring a design from the drawing board to finished object.

The following year, Rossetti organised a group of young artists, including Morris, to decorate the Oxford Union debating hall. The men were not paid, just given expenses, and the work was carried out in a spirit of camaraderie; something that was to become a keynote of future ventures undertaken by William Morris.

Jane Morris, the Wife of William Morris Giclee Print
Rossetti, Dante...
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While working on the on the Oxford Union debating Hall, Morris met Jane Burden and married her in 1859. Philip Webb designed their first home, the Red House in Kent. As might be expected from members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, there was a strong medieval influence and the furniture and decoration was designed either by Morris or his friends. Although his friends contributed designs, Morris did those for all the stained glass, in collaboration with Burne-Jones, and for all the embroidered wall hangings, as well as for other items.

This led directly to the formation of the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. in 1861. It was a co-operative and aimed to produce all decorative objects needed for a home including stained glass, embroideries, hand-painted tiles, furniture and wallpaper. It could be said to mark the start of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Although the friends won numerous awards for their work, they were not businessmen and the company lost money and so had to be subsidised by William Morris. Also, during this period, in 1871, Morris moved into his final and best-loved home, Kelmscott Manor in Gloucestershire where today visitors can see some of the best of his work.

Angeli Landente Wall Tapestry
Morris, William
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By 1875, the co-operative was restructured and became just Morris & Co. While some members were contributing little as their own careers became successful, others were bitter at the closure of the co-operative. One of these was Rossetti but he had been having an affair lasting some years with Jane Morris, so perhaps this was the real cause of acrimony between the two men.

Morris & Co was organised on much more commercial lines with a showroom in Central London and, later, extensive works at Merton Abbey in South London. It was during this period that some of William Morris' most famous designs were done including chintzes, wallpapers and woven textiles.

Paradoxically, Morris, a lifelong socialist, wanted to bring beautiful handmade objects into the lives of rich and poor alike but his insistence on using costly traditional methods meant that only the wealthy could afford his products. In spite of this, William Morris can be seen as the founding father of the Arts & Crafts Movement and a profound influence on design ever since.