Thomas Wardle, (1831-1909) based in Leek, Staffordshire, swiftly earned a reputation as a leading dyer of textiles by using traditional methods and dyestuffs. William Morris, the foremost textile designer, was frustrated by problems he encountered when he tried to transform his designs on paper into printed textiles. Both men independently despaired at the outpouring of… Read more »
The two children of William and Jane Morris, Jane Alice (known as Jenny) and Mary (known as May) were born little over a year apart from one another; Jenny on the 17 January 1861, and May on the 25 March 1862. Both were born at Red House in Bexleyheath, where they would spend the first… Read more »
Pete Floud, in The Wallpaper Designs of William Morris, places William Morris’s early wallpapers in the context of the rather exuberant designs of the 1840’s having given way to changes inspired A W N Pugin and Owen Jones, who developed more formal designs with flowers, birds and trees represented in conventionalised forms in flat looking… Read more »
