Concept of Inspiration: How the Work of Timorous Beasties Interreacts with the Ideas and Work of William Morris

In this essay, I am going to discuss the relationship between the work of Timorous Beasties, a design-led manufacturing company that specialises in contemporary fabrics and wallpapers and William Morris commonly known as one of the most defining figures of Victorian England. I intend to address how Morris’s work has greatly influenced the likes of contemporary designers. I am particularly interested in how Both Morris and Timorous Beasties have been influenced by the written works of John Ruskin. John Ruskin today is most famously known as the leading art critic of Victorian Britain. Ruskin held the belief that art, politics and nature were all connected therefore he thought it was fundamental to make links.

Morris was heavily influenced by Ruskin as a young poet and believed that Ruskin was on to something and throughout his life put Ruskin’s philosophies into practice, placing great value on work, the joy of craftsmanship and the natural beauty of materials. In the same way that Ruskin influenced Morris, he also influenced Timorous Beasties who share a similar view on the world as Ruskin. Beauty to Timorous Beasties is their main concern they are devoted to how that impacts as pattern design and always trying to alter the way we design and create things.

Much of Timorous beasties work reflects Morris’s for example, Summer Trellis wallpaper which is digitally printed and produced rather than block printed as Morris would have done is clearly inspired by Morris’s first wallpaper design ‘Trellis,’1862 inspired by the ‘Strawberry Thief’, inspired by Morris’ time in Bloomsbury.

Timorous Beasties Summer Trellis Wallpaper Width (mm): 520Repeat (mm) : 1035Style: Quarter Drop Material: 170gsm Non-woven Roll length (metres) : 10 metres

Timorous Beasties Summer Trellis is a very colourful patterned wallpaper design that features a rather inviting embellishment of pink blooming summer posies and bashful bumble bees intertwining between a subtle garden all trellis. To me, Summer Trellis portrays a celebration of colour and the beauty of nature all around us. I feel great reflects Morris’s ‘Trellis’ and ‘Strawberry thief’ due to the use of a similar subject, colour, shape, and repeated pattern. Various products and designs of Timorous beasties greatly indicate an influence of Morris, for example, their Thistle rug would look rather pleasant in one of Morris’s interiors due its severely strong dark lines make us think of wood sculpting. Much of Timorous Beastie’s work reflects and uses Morris’s use of colour harmonies. Their work is often on a large scale which makes it look rather modern and simple compared to Morris’s often very complex patterns. It appears as those Timorous Beasties draw inspiration from many places and individuals but quite clearly recreate Morris’s patterns by taking inspiration from his and putting their twist on it which reflects modern design today. Like Morris, much of their designs are available in different colours to allow individuals flexibly. Timorous Beasties collection of blotch wallpaper Chic Blotch mimics Morris’s use of repetition in a similar way that their fabric Bell moth fabric has a very busy background and has the repetition of moths.

Trellis wallpaper William Morris and Webb

The pattern for Morris’s Trellis Wallpaper was inspired by the roses growing up on trellis in the garden of Red House. Red House is a significant Arts and Crafts building located in the town of Bexleyheath in Southeast London, England. In 1859, newly married, William Morris commissioned his friend, the young architect Phillip Webb, to build him a house. Morris intended for the house to used as a place where him and his friends could work as well as live. Morris was heavily involved in the design of Red House, resulting in the decoration and furnishings within the house to celebrate the manufacturing process and the skill of the craftsmen.

The pattern ‘Trellis ‘shows a medieval influence as it recalls the ornamental decoration found on illuminated manuscripts and tapestries. The birds and insects were drawn by Morris’s Lifelong friend Phillip Webb it is believed that Morris had Webb draw the birds and insects as he felt he wasn’t that good as depicting them how he wished. ‘Trellis’ was one of Morris’ favourite designs and he chose it to decorate his bedroom at Kelmscott House in London where he spent his final years.

Strawberry Thief is one of the most famously known decorative textile designs of Morris’s, one on which it is believed he worked on for several months before finding a way of printing it successfully. The fabric was intended to be used for curtains or hung along walls, a medieval style of decoration which the artist advocated. The pattern was based on the thrushes that would steal strawberries from the kitchen in his country home at Kelmscott Manner. The pattern itself is rather complex and aesthetically pleasing, there is little depth between the foreground and background. The main focal point within this piece is the birds due to their light colour and very delicate rendering. Morris took a great deal of interest in the practical craftsmanship of the Strawberry Thief design, learning the theory of fabric-dyeing and block-printing. It is believed that his main concern was not only the depth of colour within the design but overall, the whole creative process. The design today is still as successful and sells widely as it were when it was first released in the late nineteenth century.

Throughout history, nature has had a leading role as a source of inspiration for creative practitioners. Dating back to even prehistoric cave drawings in Lascaux, France nature has always been and will always be a driving force of creative inspiration. Many artists and designers are enthused by nature as it provides endless inspiration and through the mediums in which all artists and designers use to encourage and assemble their artwork are from nature. Wood, charcoal, graphite, clay, blended pigments, water. Without these tools from Nature, we wouldn’t be able to create artwork. The way the cave dwellers created paint to document and draw on their walls is the same exact process that we use today. For Example, Vincent van Gogh a post-impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. Had the ability to bring aspects of nature, such as simple flowers, to life in his paintings. One such a work of art, Irises, is particularly impressive with the life-force of the flowers being almost tangible. Monet is another of the world’s greatest artists who drew inspiration from nature. His series of paintings entitled Lilies is a beautiful showcase of shadows, light, and water and portrays his garden in France. Monet’s flowers were one of the main focuses of his work for the latter 30 years of his life, perfectly illustrating what an immense influence the natural beauty around us can have on the imagination of an artist.

Contemporary designers such as Mary Iverson draws inspiration from the immense natural beauty that surrounds us all and creates artwork that offers a rather contemporary spin on traditional art. Henry Matisse once said:

‘An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language. ‘Nature in art can take many visual forms, from photorealism to abstraction.

Art can mimic nature, by seeking to visually replicate objects as they appear in real life. But abstract paintings can also take their visual cue from actual forms in nature.

In a society today where technology is evolving faster than ever which many find exciting, many also find it very overwhelming. For Example, The Industrial Revolution, which was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States, in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing, and iron production processes, the increasing use of steam power and waterpower, the development of machine tools, and the rise of the mechanized factory system. For example, the spinning jenny was invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves and was one of the key developments of weaving during the early stages of the revolution. The Industrial Revolution also led to an unprecedented rise in the rate of the population which in fact is believed to have doubled.

Despite being considered a revolution, Morris alongside many others, came together to form the Arts and Crafts Movement (1850-1900), one of the more influential design movements in history. ACM aimed to promote a return to hand-craftsmanship and to assert the creative independence of individual craftspeople. It was a reaction against the industrialized society that had boomed in Britain in the Victorian period and aimed for social as well as artistic reform. They feared that industrialization was destroying the environment in which traditional skills and crafts could prosper, as machine production had taken the pride, skill, and design out of the quality of goods being manufactured. They believed that handcrafted objects were superior to those made by machines and that the rural craftsman had a superior lifestyle to those who slaved in the urban mills and factories. They were convinced that the general decline of artistic standards brought on by industrialization was linked to the nation’s social and moral decline was a reaction against the Industrial Revolution. This social trend mirrors the original Arts and Crafts Movement of the 19th century when people advocated a return to traditional craftsmanship during the industrial revolution. Today, rather than completely reject modern technology, artists and consumers alike can use the Internet in their favour. Online stores like Etsy enable us to have easy access to high-quality craftsmanship and one-of-a-kind pieces. This, in turn, allows many contemporary artists and designers to make a living from their craft—an option that may not have been possible pre-Internet. Ruskin alongside Morris had a very significant impact on the ACM movement Morris was heavily influenced by Ruskin and Morris alongside his colleagues and friends believed that Ruskin was on to something, therefore, they always drew inspiration from Ruskin’s paintings and written works. Overall, the ACM reformed design and patterns and began to separate the barrier between art people and everyday individuals which overall has resulted in this movement still influencing artists and designers today has influenced many contemporary designers who as such in a way take a modern approach on the work of Morris such as Maarten De Ceulaer who doesn’t want to make furniture that will be mass-produced and prefers to create pieces that will become ‘classic’ in years to come. For example, he presented the Pile of Suitcases wardrobe at the Graduation Galleries 2008 show at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Later he developed a complete collection around his design idea: variable compositions, steel profiles which kept the pile firmly together, leaving ample room for change. ACM has also made many individuals understand different techniques from the past to present and resulted in many experimenting one example being the Martino Gampers Post Mundus chair which is a reinterpretation of a classical Thonet chair. He researched the Mundus factory to understand the techniques used on classical bentwood chairs.

To conclude this essay, based on the similarities, differences, and connections I have analysed and gathered between sources I believe that Timorous Beasties works are moderately influenced by Morris and his expression of nature with pattern and colour. Their work is a blend of old and new, traditional and modern served side by side interestingly and uniquely. We know Morris used colours that would age well and reflect his organic lifestyle; however, Timorous Beasties use very vibrant and bright colours to create very colourful and playful designs. Both Morris and Timorous beasties create wallpaper which allows one’s interiors to be full of life surrounded by nature. Timorous beasties wallpaper and designs overall are full of historical design references regarding Morris but twinned with a sharp use of colour and contemporary eye.

They rejected contemporary ideas that technology could overcome nature. Realism and naturalism were responses to romanticism and its concentration on the portrayal of emotions.

Bibliography

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