William Morris Art & Design Patterns from Nature

William Morris ( ) and The Arts and Crafts Movement  William Morris was a leading member of the Arts and Crafts Movement.  Morris is mostly known as a designer of patterns for wallpaper and textiles.  Morris was also an artist, designer, printer, typographer, bookbinder, craftsman, poet, and writer.  Morris believed that nature was the perfect example of God's design.  Morris believed that all design should be based on nature which he saw as the spiritual remedy to the inferior standards of art and design during the Industrial Revolution.

William Morris - 'Tulip and Willow' Pencil and Watercolour sketch for print design, 1873

William Morris - 'Windrush' Pencil and Watercolour sketch for textile design,

William Morris - 'Trellis' Pencil and Watercolour sketch for wallpaper design, 1862

William Morris - 'Trellis' Wallpaper Design, 1864

Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reaction against the poor quality of design during the Industrial Revolution. The members of the Arts and Crafts Movement believed that the growth of industry had destroyed traditional skills and had removed the pride that a craftsman could find in his work. The members of the Arts and Crafts Movement formed themselves into crafts guilds, based on the medieval examples, in order to encourage high standards of design and provide a supportive working environment. The crafts guilds gave themselves names such as the Century Guild, the Guild of Saint George, the Art Workers Guild and the Guild of Handicraft. The Arts and Crafts Movement raised the status of design in art education and established it as an essential element in the manufacturing process.

The Kelmscott Press In 1891, Morris founded the Kelmscott Press, named after the village near Oxford where he had lived since The Kelmscott Press produced high quality hand-printed books to be seen and cherished as objects d'art. Morris designed and cut the typefaces, ornamental borders and title pages which were based on the style of medieval manuscripts, while the illustrations were created by the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones. The books were printed on handmade paper, copied from 15th century Italian samples, and bound in vellum.