In photos: See how William Morris’s designs still permeate our world
130 years after his death, the Morris Gallery in London is celebrating the designer’s legacy with an exhibition of everyday objects that feature his art.
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An outfit from the Autumn/Winter 2015 Marc Jacobs collection, created in collaboration with the William Morris Gallery. Born in 1834, into a wealthy middle-class family, William Morris was one of Victorian England’s many polymaths. He was a poet, artist, designer, writer and social activist, and though he ran an elite design studio, believed beauty should be accessible to all.
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A Roberts radio in the Willow Bough design. Beauty ought to be rooted in craft, nature and ethical production, he argued. Towards this aim, he helped found the Arts and Crafts movement, in response to the cheap, overdecorated consumer goods being churned out by industrial capitalism.
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A bag created using Morris’s sunflower design. Central to his philosophy was the idea of “joy in labour”. He believed the objects people lived with ought to be made by workers who took pride in their products, not by labourers exploited on a factory floor.
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When the William Morris Gallery sent out a call inviting people to loan them objects with Morris designs on them, for the exhibition, they received nearly 1,000 submissions ranging from a luxury carpet by Axminster to Covid-era masks, biscuit tins, ashtrays, teapots and more.
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Fruit wallpaper designed in 1862. Unlike a lot of the overwrought decorative design of the time, whether on fabrics and carpets or wallpaper and stationery, Morris’s patterns were simple, resonant and versatile enough to be both universal and timeless. The fact that they were inspired by nature – and by a range of cultures, ranging from Mughal miniature art to Indian blockprinting and Europe’s autumn colours – has helped make them universally resonant, and helped them endure.
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A paper weight bearing the iconic Strawberry Thief design. Over the years, Morris’s patterns have been embraced by groups ranging from the flower-power hippies of the 1960s to Thatcherite conservatives (who viewed him as a symbol of Victorian values) and Japanese designers (who have remixed Strawberry Thief with Hello Kitty).
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The Pimpernel wallpaper designed in 1876. Morris & Co, the company he founded, still makes wallpaper, fabrics and lifestyle products. In recent years, it has released collections in collaboration with brands such as Zara Home and Habitat.
.
An outfit from the Autumn/Winter 2015 Marc Jacobs collection, created in collaboration with the William Morris Gallery. Born in 1834, into a wealthy middle-class family, William Morris was one of Victorian England’s many polymaths. He was a poet, artist, designer, writer and social activist, and though he ran an elite design studio, believed beauty should be accessible to all.
.
A Roberts radio in the Willow Bough design. Beauty ought to be rooted in craft, nature and ethical production, he argued. Towards this aim, he helped found the Arts and Crafts movement, in response to the cheap, overdecorated consumer goods being churned out by industrial capitalism.
.
A bag created using Morris’s sunflower design. Central to his philosophy was the idea of “joy in labour”. He believed the objects people lived with ought to be made by workers who took pride in their products, not by labourers exploited on a factory floor.
.
When the William Morris Gallery sent out a call inviting people to loan them objects with Morris designs on them, for the exhibition, they received nearly 1,000 submissions ranging from a luxury carpet by Axminster to Covid-era masks, biscuit tins, ashtrays, teapots and more.
.
Fruit wallpaper designed in 1862. Unlike a lot of the overwrought decorative design of the time, whether on fabrics and carpets or wallpaper and stationery, Morris’s patterns were simple, resonant and versatile enough to be both universal and timeless. The fact that they were inspired by nature – and by a range of cultures, ranging from Mughal miniature art to Indian blockprinting and Europe’s autumn colours – has helped make them universally resonant, and helped them endure.
.
A paper weight bearing the iconic Strawberry Thief design. Over the years, Morris’s patterns have been embraced by groups ranging from the flower-power hippies of the 1960s to Thatcherite conservatives (who viewed him as a symbol of Victorian values) and Japanese designers (who have remixed Strawberry Thief with Hello Kitty).
.
The Pimpernel wallpaper designed in 1876. Morris & Co, the company he founded, still makes wallpaper, fabrics and lifestyle products. In recent years, it has released collections in collaboration with brands such as Zara Home and Habitat.
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