- William Morris was one of the leaders
of the Arts and Crafts movement.
He had an unwavering belief that
social and economic equality could be solved
with skill, craft, and a return to a way of life
celebrating nature rather than mass production.
While many others contributed to
the movement in all media, Morris is largely
the seminal figure connected to it.
Morris was born in 1834 and educated
at Marlborough and Exeter College.
He originally planned to enter
a religious life as a clergyman.
He had an obsessive love of the Middle Ages,
reading Sir Walter Scott and visiting medieval churches.
At Oxford, he met Edward Burne-Jones,
who was to become his lifelong friend.
Burne-Jones introduced Morris to the work
of John Ruskin and his philosphy.
After a tour of France in 1855 with Burne-Jones,
Morris decided to give up his plan
to enter the church and become an architect.
Over the net three years, he changed professions
from an architect to a painter
and then finally to a pattern designer.
His work with wallpaper, textiles,
and bookbinding was genius.
In 1859, Morris collaborated with Burne-Jones
and architect Philip Webb on the design
of his own house, Red House.
There were no mass produced products
that met Morris's high standards.
Eventually, he and the others designed
and created most of the furniture and objects.
The frustration Morris experienced
convinced him that he needed to start
his own firm, Morris and Company.
By the time Morris was 42, he began lectures
on the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts
movement and all of the applied arts.
These spread the idea and with the success
of the firm's work made Morris one of
the most influential designers in the 19th century.
Morris and Company designed wallpaper,
tile, tapestries, furniture, stained glass and interiors.
Many of the processes used were based on medieval
techniques such as using vegetable inks,
hand-made tools and glassmaking.
By 1877, Morris and Company opened a retail store in London.
This provided financial stability
with repeat orders and regular sales.
Toward the end of his life, Morris decided
that a return to the craft and skill of medieval England
would not create social change.
In 1883, he became a socialist.
At the end of his life, he turned away from
Morris and Company to focus on his last obsession,
the Kelmscott Press, which would
revolutionize bookmaking and design.