William Morris' Wallpaper Design

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

                                                                           -William Morris

Jasmine, Morris 1872

Pimpernel, Morris 1876

Blackthorn, designed by William Morris in 1892

This is an example of furniture in the
 Red House that imitates the same
 design as a typical Morris wallpaper.

The Above images are a small sample William Morris vast body of work in wallpaper design. Morris was greatly inspired by historical images he found in the Victoria and Albert Museum. His wallpaper designs are characterized by the flatness and simplification of the subject matter; Morris enjoyed nature, hence why almost all of wallpaper portrayed flowers, plants, and birds in one way or another. The Japanese wood-block-like images are carefully designed so that they seamlessly connect together when repeated on walls.

At the time when Red House was just built, the furnishing inside the house was considered very simplistic when compared to other homes around the time period. Most of the Victorian houses consisted of fancy interior decoration; the Red House, however, although incorporated sometimes more than seven different wallpapers or furniture designs in a single room, Morris was able to unify the images to create rooms fresh to one's eye.



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Citation:

"William Morris & Wallpaper Design." Victoria and Albert Museum. Accessed December 6, 2012. 

     http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/w/william-morris-and-wallpaper-design/. 

Kulh, Lynne. "Morris." Pinterest (blog). Accessed December 10, 2012. http://pinterest.com/kuhlworld/ 

     morris/.