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William Morris

© A. Wilson

William Morris (1834-1896), the founder of the Arts & Crafts Movement, was born in Walthamstow, London, to a well-to-do family. He studied at the University of Oxford, intent on becoming a clergyman. Whilst at Oxford, he met Edward Burne-Jones- also studying for the church-and the two quickly became friends. Convinced by DG Rossetti to abandon their church studies, Morris and Burne-Jones dropped their current course of studies and decided to pursue careers in art. Morris served a year as an architectural apprentice with the firm of GE Street, but he soon found painting to be a more satisfying art form. A mediochre painter, Morris quickly discovered that his true talent lay in design.

The Arts & Crafts Movement came into being in 1861, when Morris founded the firm of Morris, Marshall and Faulkner. It was the company's aim to revitalise the design and production of handicrafts, which had become increasingly vulgar and mass-produced since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Morris had hoped to promote the hand-made and simply designed books, wallpapers, furniture, and textiles, which were being celebrated by the growing cult of medievalism. During his lifetime, Morris's ideals would reach a wider audience, inspiring a generation of architects and designers, most notably Philip Webb, CFA Voysey, and William De Morgan.

The firm of Morris, Marshall, and Faulkner, which became simply Morris and Co. in 1875, was the direct result of Morris's designing and the building of his new home, The Red House. The original members of the company included Ford Maddox Brown, Burne-Jones, Charles Faulkner, Rossetti, P.P. Marshall, and Philip Webb. The new company advertised themselves as 'Fine Workmen in Painting, Carving, Furniture, and the Metals.' It was planned that Morris & Co. would initially produce decorative items and furnishings, such as metalwork, furniture, and stained glass windows. However, these items would be created in strict accordance with the principles of Medievalism and Ruskinian decorative theory, which advocated usefulness and simplicity of design. These goods were meant to remedy what was currently available, as was on display at the Great Exhibition, which were the result of cheap manufacturing. The firm's products, Morris hoped, would be equally available to both the working and leisured classes; this aim hints at Morris's conversion to socialism, a cause that he championed in his later years.

The company was somewhat chaotically managed by Morris himself; however, the firm quickly began to lose money and Morris was forced to support the company's expenditures at his own expense. As interest in medievalism and the Anglo-Catholicism movement increased, the orders for Morris's goods increased; with the largest market being in stained-glass windows- the most popular designs were the ones planned by Morris himself and Burne-Jones. As their products became more sought after. As their designs became more popular, Morris & Co. started to focus mostly on interior decorations. Some of their more famous commissions included the Green Room at the V&A Museum and the Armoury and Tapestry Room at St James's Palace. In spite of such prestigious contracts, the company remained in financial difficulty.

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