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William Morris design for a parlor, or living room was illustrated and described in detail by Godey's Lady's Book in 1885. William Morris led the Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth century. William Morris designed some exquisite patterns of wallpaper, fabrics, and furniture. Many William Morris designs are still reproduced today to decorate homes. The Arts and Crafts movement was made up of English designers and writers who started a return to well-made, handcrafted goods as a competition to poor quality machine-made items. William Morris designs were featured in his own company, called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co in 1861, (later just Morris & Co). The Morris company produced everything for interior decorating from furniture and textiles to wallpaper and jewelry. |
Whoever would experience a new sensation, and know for the first time what rich and luxurious objects can be produced in elegant, artistic furniture and soft, charming colors in special art fabrics and reveal those superb interiors that characterize the paintings of Burne-Jones, Alma Tadema, and Rosetti, need only to obtain a glimpse of the exquisitely furnished rooms with a William Morris design.
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| William Morris Design Chair |
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This parlor is taken from the country seat of C. F. Clothier, Esq., near Media, Pa, and is a fine example of the distinctive and inimitable qualities of the celebrated William Morris design art fabrics and wood designs after the Morris & Co., London.
The very merits, variety, and suggestions displayed in the constructive skill of the decorator, together with the beauties of designs and materials fronm the Morris Company, are very difficult to portray, and need a more elaborate description.
The wood-work in the room is of finely carved and polished old oak and solid mahogany, the William Morris design furniture being a rich and boldly carved dragon design, in mahogany.
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| William Morris Design Furniture |
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The William Morris design color tones contained in the carpet, furniture coverings, portieres, and curtain draperies are peculiarly Morris, though representing the spirit of true Oriental art.
The Morris Company Wilton carpet:, the ground-work of this decoration needs more than passing notice, as the low, rich harmonies of color, and the soft Indian designs, so pleasingly observable in all of the William Morris design floor coverings, enable the production of a consistent whole in the arrangement of the furniture coverings and draperies, which are at once elegant and artistic.
Over the richly carved mantel, the window treatment around the deep beveled glass of the beautiful foliated frame is in the same shades of golden bronze and silver as are repeated in the chandeliers, the cornices over the windows, and the Cairene panels in the doorways. This still further carries out the idea of consistency by making all the upper decorations of the room alike, and which harmonizes beautifully with the William Morris design frescos on the walls, frieze, and ceilings. |
The William Morris design chandeliers themselves are elegant examples of artistic metal work from the Morris Company, with their fine chasings and graceful lines, while the Cairene panels, after original designs from Cairo, are one of the richest and most effective decorations, displaying in their Oriental designs the same spirit as that embodied in the carpet.
The whole effect that has been produced is entirely artistic and pleasing to the most fastidious, and illustrates most forcibly what results from that treatment with William Morris design Art Fabrics, in which is at once discernible the clearly defined conception of the artist decorator, who blends designs and colors in beautiful harmony.
[From Godey's Lady's Book, 1885] |
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William Morris Design Window Treatment
CAIRENE PANELS |
William Morris Design
MANTLE |
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William Morris Design Wallpaper |
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The Arts and Crafts movement was made up of English designers and writers who started a return to well-made, handcrafted goods as a competition to poor quality machine-made items. William Morris led the Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth century. William Morris designed some exquisite patterns of wallpaper, many which are still reproduced today to decorate homes. Many excellent reproductions of William Morris Wallpaper are available and they are as pleasing today as they were over a hundred years ago. These wall coverings — handsome, dignified, and decorative — still occupy a first place in Victorian style houses where the decorative quality of woodwork and furniture can stand their massive weight, sturdy, vigorous line, and handsome rendering. |
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