If the cap fits.

 You know how sometimes when you go somewhere you can't help thinking that such and such a person would love it here. Well that was me two years ago when I first visited the William Morris gallery in London with my fabulous pal Julie. Last month I finally made it happen and brought my equally fabulous friend Lorra back to experience some of the magic....

William Morris lived in this house during his teenage years with his very wealthy parents. He followed the expected trajectory and went up to Oxford from where he was was expected to enter the church after he had graduated. However, young William had other ideas and much to the chagrin of his Mother he decided to become an architect instead. His family didn't go a bundle either when he announced that he was going to marry a poor girl from Oxford called Jane Burden in 1859. Marry her he did though and as we know she went on to become his artistic muse, the mother of his children and further on down the line the lover of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Thank goodness for all our sakes that Morris was a man with such vision and no qualms about following that through into the highly successful Morris & Co. His drive and those of his fellow artists who worked alongside him have left us with a body of work which continues to influence interior design taste today. The single thing which always impresses me is that these leaders in the Arts and Crafts field didn't impose limits upon themselves about what they would make so the company was able to embrace many different areas within this sphere. Whilst there are hints of some of the successes of the women involved in this movement at the gallery. I hope that one day their contribution is brought into the light. Behind the famous men's names many of us are familiar with are equally talented women. Please do check out the work of Evelyn de Morgan or indeed Morris's own daughter  May if you're interested and this article has some other leads https://www.homesandantiques.com/antiques/the-forgotten-women-of-arts-and-crafts. The carnation fabric below was designed by Kate Faulkner for them in 1875 and she was the sister of Charles who was one of the company founders.

Rather than showing rafts of pictures of the familiar wallpapers I thought people might enjoy a small selection of the other goods that were made and sold to show the range available which you could have bought for your home back in the day. There are separate displays for the printing press side of the firm and Morris's political activism.

Should you ever find yourself in Walthamstow this place is another gem and free of charge. Did my friend enjoy herself? I am guessing so because she was talking about going back again before we'd even left!

Arilx