If you have ever balked at the price of hand printed wallpapers, and to be honest who hasn't? This short V &A film about printing William Morris wallpaper demonstrates why. With fifteen different blocks and colours on just one design, this is a phenomenal amount of work to go into the making of one roll. Is it worth it? I guess it is, if you have the dosh. For the rest of us, it will be the mechanised reproduction knocked off cheaply, in the far east probably.
His designs at the time were beyond all but the wealthy middle class. Though he always had an aspiration to make his designs available for everyone. Nonetheless, it never ceases to amaze me that the continuing influence of Morris goes well beyond the actual market reach of the stuff he made at the time. The idea of handmade arts and crafts endures beyond most peoples ability to participate financially. We all hanker on some level to return to a pre-industrial age, that Morris allows us to play let's pretend with. One has also to acknowledge that Morris was a brilliant at pattern designer, and you could say he was a pioneer of good design.
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