William Morris

William Morris was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production.

In his lifetime, Morris produced items in a range of crafts, mainly those to do with furnishing, including over 600 designs for wallpaper, textiles, and embroideries, over 150 for stained glass windows, three typefaces, and around 650 borders and ornamentations for the Kelmscott Press.

Morris emphasised the idea that the design and production of an item should not be divorced from one another, and that, where possible, those creating items should be designer-craftsmen, thereby both designing and manufacturing their goods.

In the field of textile design, Morris revived a number of dead techniques, and insisted on the use of good quality raw materials, almost all natural dyes, and hand processing.