William Morris Pattern Design
The Arts and Crafts Movement revived traditional artistic craftsmanship with themes of simplicity, honesty, function, harmony, nature and social reform. Its characteristics were truth to materials, structure and function.
William Morris was a major influence on the Arts and Crafts movement. He worked a lot with crafts and design in furniture and interior. I'm particularly fond of his pattern designs. He produced many colourful textiles and wallpapers. Morris took the natural forms from the nature based on flora and fauna, and applied them to his patterns. He hand printed his early textile designs in the 1880s and favoured natural dyes which faded evenly and aged beautifully.
I can imagine during the arts & crafts movement how these wallpapers and fabrics with nature motifs gave a cozy atmosphere and harmony to the interiors. These flowers and plants with a subtle color combination forms an unique morris style. I relate a lot of his pattern designs to movement and organic shapes which are free in itself. It would be interesting to know in detail whether these fabrics and wallpapers were considered as a ‘royal decor’ back then or if it really became as a common element in people's interiors. The use of nature elements in interior surfaces nowadays is perhaps still a favourable thing.
Today, the Morris & Co. archive provides an abundant resource of patterns from which the studio create authentic reproductions, or may re-scale and re-colour, evolving the designs to appeal to the more contemporary decorator.
Queenning Zhao
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