William Morris was a leading member of the Arts and Crafts Movement in 19th century Britain. He was a designer, artist, writer and socialist who believed that industrialization had degraded design and the quality of life. Morris sought to improve design standards by looking to medieval craftsmanship as inspiration and founded the Kelmscott Press to produce beautifully printed books as works of art. The Arts and Crafts Movement promoted high quality craftsmanship and design.
William Morris was a leading member of the Arts and Crafts Movement in 19th century Britain. He was a designer, artist, writer and socialist who believed that industrialization had degraded design and the quality of life. Morris sought to improve design standards by looking to medieval craftsmanship as inspiration and founded the Kelmscott Press to produce beautifully printed books as works of art. The Arts and Crafts Movement promoted high quality craftsmanship and design.
William Morris was a leading member of the Arts and Crafts Movement in 19th century Britain. He was a designer, artist, writer and socialist who believed that industrialization had degraded design and the quality of life. Morris sought to improve design standards by looking to medieval craftsmanship as inspiration and founded the Kelmscott Press to produce beautifully printed books as works of art. The Arts and Crafts Movement promoted high quality craftsmanship and design.
William Morris was a leading member of WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
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, writer and champion of socialist ideals. Morris believed that the art and design of his own time was inferior and unworthy. He felt that this was due to the poor quality of life during the Industrial Revolution. Morris believed that nature was the WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
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. Morris founded the Kelmscott Press to create beautiful handmade books which would elevate the craft of printing to an art form. Morris encouraged artists and designers to look back to medieval art for their inspiration as this was a time WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
when artists and craftsmen worked together with equal
status. Morris said, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." The Arts and Crafts Movement WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
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 WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
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. Morris' design for 'Trellis', his first attempt at WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
a wallpaper design, was based on roses
growing over trellises in the garden at the Red House, his classic Arts and Crafts Movement home, at Bexleyheath in Kent. The pattern shows a medieval influence as it is recalls the ornamental decoration to be found on illuminated manuscripts and tapestries. The birds and insects which were later added to the final design were drawn by Philip Webb, the architect of the Red House. 'Trellis' was one of Morris' favourite designs and he chose it to decorate his bedroom at Kelmscott House in London where he spent his final years In 1891, Morris founded the WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
Kelmscott Press, named after the
village near Oxford where he had lived since 1871. 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. Although Morris looked to the past for WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)
inspiration, his aims anticipate
modernist ideas on typography and layout: 'I began printing books with the hope of producing some which would have a definite claim to beauty, while at the same time they should be easy to read and should not dazzle the eye......I found I had to consider chiefly the following things: the paper, the form of the type, the relative spacing of the letters, the words, and the lines; and lastly the position of the printed matter on the page'.