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24th March 2016
If you’ve been on Google today, you might have seen a few of the Google Doodles which are celebrating William Morris. Now, you might have noticed that we think he’s pretty great all year round, but since it’s his birthday, and we’ve seen articles discussing who he is and why his legacy lives on, we thought we’d tell you a bit about him!
Morris was born in Walthamstow on March 24th, 1834. He became a textile designer and artist, a writer, poet and a socialist who was both heavily involved and influential in the English Arts and Crafts movement, and with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Originally, after being educated at Oxford, he trained as an architect, which we have spoken about in past blogs, however he was highly interested in the arts, and, after being influenced by some of the big names in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood including Rossetti became more involved in the arts. Together with these friends, he created art that has stood the test of time, today many of the stain glass windows they designed remain in England’s churches, St James’ Palace in London being one of their first commissions; if you research into what they created together, their work is vast and rather beautiful.
He married Jane Burden in 1859, who modelled in many of the Pre-Raphaelites art work, she was an unconventional beauty, but became one of their favourite models. Philip Webb, Morris’ friend, was commissioned to build them a house on some land he had bought in Kent, which at that time was a rural area (today, Bexleyheath is a suburb of London.) If you’ve ever visited Red House, you’ll know Webb did a great job of creating the home Morris envisioned; a modern home which would be ‘medieval in spirit.’ He furnished the house himself, a visit will show you the Morris’ wallpaper and designs throughout the home. He created these with the help of a few friends, since he was particular in what he wanted and felt he couldn’t find that anywhere, from the success of this, a business was born; Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. This company produced a range of domestic furniture and wallpaper (again, because Morris couldn’t find any he liked enough to use in his home.)
If you’ve been looking into Morris today, curious about what today’s Google Doodle is, you might have caught that he was also a rather successful writer and poet along with his artistic talents. Quite frankly, we don’t know how he juggled so many talents at once, all with such success!
He founded SPAB, something that is still running today, which was the ‘Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings’ in 1877; which was a response to the destruction of original features of historical buildings in the name of ‘restoration.’ We have him to thank then, that so many historic buildings remain today in such a good and true construction- public and professional restorers are today taught by SPAG how to correctly restore historic buildings.
His life was much more than a handful of accomplishments written in a blog or on a news site for the day, in his lifetime he accomplished a great deal, and even more remarkably- the things he did over 100 years ago, remain today and still affect us now. The fact his designs are still being printed, bought and loved today as much as ever, show what a great and imaginative artist he was. If you fancy learning more, have a look back at our past blogs to read more about his life and those of his friends.
Happy Birthday William Morris! What is your favourite design of his? Ours (right now!) is his Willow Bough design- in blue or green, we can’t decide!
Posted in William Morris by Laura
Yippee it’s here! ✨ Use code: FLORALFRIDAY at checkout on our website only for 20% off everything - including sale items! 🫧
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Get ready for flower arranging class with us 🌷 Our beautiful Willow Bough William Morris pvc apron is perfect to protect your outfit from splashes when cooking, crafting or cutting your stems! 🌿🫶🏻
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We couldn’t resist another pic of our bonfire night set up! 🫶🏻 our PVC fabric is such a popular option for the table as it’s wipe clean, so any spills can just be quickly fixed 🫧 We wouldn’t reccomend lighting sparklers in the house or over your tablecloth though! 🙃
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🎆 Take 15% off our whole website for 48 hours only using code: BONFIRE at checkout 🔥 (we’ve also launched gift sets including half metre gift sets for the quilters and crafters in your life, you get a half metre free when you purchase the set and they come gift wrapped… this is is soft launching Christmas Incase everyone says we’re too early.. but also our Christmas trees are already up so we’re ready to talk about it when you are? Let us know?) 🎄
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Had to video us cutting beautiful William Morris Willow Bough today, this heavyweight fabric is off to be made into curtains, it’ll look so stunning! 🫶🏻 If you’d like a free sample just let us know ☺️
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Just waiting for the trick or treaters 🎃
On the table; our William Morris Daisy napkin and placemats 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisprint #florals #halloween #halloweendecor #daisy #floraldesign #preraphaelite #burleighpottery
Turning Charlotte Rose Halloween-y with our little pumpkin napkin fold 🎃
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Proving there’s nothing Bertie won’t do for a biscuit, he’s ready for a Halloween party 🎃 As a treat for all our Instagram friends, take 15% off our entire website until Halloween with code: AUTUMN 🍂
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Spend a Friday evening with us settling down for a little cheese board✨ Our Mallow William Morris design is always so stunning 🥰
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We could never admit to how long it took us to fold our Compton napkin into a pumpkin 😮💨🎃
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Halloween, but make it floral 🍂✨🎃
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #halloweentable #halloweentablescape #pumpkinfloral #pumpkinflower
A very Pimpernel breakfast! 🍂 We love mix and matching Pimpernel Cream and Green 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #pimpernel #floraltable #floraldesign #florals
A pvc tablecloth is fantastic as it simply wipes clean which often makes it our top pick for meal times, they come in many Morris designs and are sold by the half metre to fit every table, it won’t fray so doesn’t need a hem 👻 keep watching to see who our tea guest was 😉
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This is such an easy napkin fold and so effective too! 🫶🏻 We love Willow Bough blue and green layered together ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisfabrics #fabric #florals #tablescape #napkinfolding #napkinfold #burleighpottery
NEW LAUNCH! 🫶🏻 William Morris Daisy is now available to buy as fabric by the half metre! 🌼 we’ve always been asked for this by the half metre so you can shop now, please note that it’s a narrower printed design than usual 🪡🧵 It’s such a beautiful design, Morris’ first ever design so always such a special design for fans of his work! 🫶🏻
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#Williammorris #williammorrisfabric #fabrics #fabricstash #ukindependentbusiness #printedintheuk
Floral fabric stack 🫶🏻 Did you know all our William Morris fabrics are sold by the half metre? So for projects big and small, we’ve got you covered 🪡 Message us for free samples if you see a design you like 🥰
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We absolutely love Pimpernel Green, a timeless design it was first designed in 1876 by Morris, and is as beautiful today as it was then! 🍂
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Beautiful poetry by Morris 🍂 Did you know he was a writer as well as a designer? 🤎 This is his poem called “Autumn” 🍁
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All month we will be staying on a Halloween theme with treats galore (preferably something yummy and baked..) 🎃
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Getting craft ready for Halloween with our little wool ghosts! 👻 We’re going to use them on place settings and on a Halloween tree 🎃 Super easy to make, all you need is wool, felt or googly eyes and some glue 🤎 we hope you like our first crafty video, we started with one ghost in the background and re did this video so many times we ended up with a whole ghost party- and we ended up covered in googly eyes 😂 The idea of the ghosts was from @thepomwreathcompany 🧡
featuring our William Morris Compton design 🍂
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