William Morris' Views On Beauty, Craftsmanship And Design

William Morris (1834 – 1896) is credited with founding Arts and Crafts movement of the mid 19th century . A renowned artist of the movement, he was a poet, textile designer and novelist. Toward the end of his life he focused heavily on his socialism and was appalled by the lives of factory workers. Calling industrialisation “ugly” , he compared the workers conditions with those of the medieval world. He believed craftsmen during medieval times took pleasure in their work, creating only items they needed and making those items beautiful. Morris wanted the workmen of the 19th century to have the same attitudes and conditions as the craftsmen of medieval times.

The Englishman was born into a wealthy upper-middle class family. He enjoyed private education and a privileged childhood. He was a lucky soul that needn’t worry about money, as he received a large inheritance from his parents. As a result of his affluent upbringing he was potentially shielded in a way from the harsh realities of hard labour during the industrialization period. This perceived ignorance as such, may have meant that whilst Morris had good intentions, his lack of experience with the conditions of the people he fought for, suggest that his ideals for labour conditions were simply unattainable.

‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.’ This was the inspiring statement of the late Englishman and this essay will explore the ideas and ideals of William Morris and discuss just how influential he was.

Everything must be beautiful and have purpose

Perhaps the most well-known idea to have come from Morris, is that of owning only beautiful things that have a purpose. He was celebrated for talking about the importance of beauty in the home, beauty not in the perceived sense, but beauty that is derived from the objects themselves. During the 19th Century, the design of furniture appeared to remain stagnant, showcasing the former Rococo styles of the late 17th and early 18th century. Morris believed that design could be better, and he used his love of medievalism as a ‘springboard’ into a completely new way of designing.

Morris’ mission, to avoid this Rococo revival and to create beautiful, meaningful objects; saw the creation of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. decorative arts firm (which later renamed to Morris & Co) in 1861. The firm produced interior decoration items including wallpapers, tapestries, furniture, fabrics and stained-glass windows. Morris worked closely with artists and designers sharing in the same ideals of the arts and crafts movement, that objects should be beautiful yet functional and created by artists that find joy in their craft.

William Morris had thoughts that everybody should be able to own something beautiful and that it shouldn’t be an experience reserved for the affluent. Unfortunately, this ideal of Morris was never achieved, he could never make it work financially and economically. It was proving difficult for him to balance the costs of the product, with the hours of craftmanship needed to achieve the quality he desired.

The idea of people owning only beautiful, functional objects can be seen in today’s mini revolution of minimalistic living. Individuals take it upon themselves to reduce the number of items they own and only invest in high-quality pieces. Perhaps if the world embraced this idea (which is similar to Morris’), we would see less waste entering our environment from un-needed, over-produced items. People would experience the benefits of minimalistic ownership including clarity of mind, greater freedom and less stress.

With today’s attitudes toward possessions and the influence of social media being ever present, Morris’ ideals have been lost. The people that can afford to own items of a higher quality do so, yet they own too much of it, regularly flaunting their wealth and irresponsible behaviour in an attempt to raise their social status. The consumer attitude of today is selfish and is decided mostly on the satisfaction it will give to the consumer themselves. The environmental impact, the conditions in which the products were made in are of little to no concern which is a far-cry from what Morris had hoped for.

However, in his time Morris’ was able to transform everyday items into design icons and that meant that his idea of beauty joining together with functionality became reality. Whether that has remained till the present 21st century, is undetermined.

Joy in Labour

Industrialisation was a period of time Morris believed to be (simply put) “ugly” . He condemned it by the way it reduced workers to slaves and took the simple joy out of pulling a thread through a canvas. It was one of Morris’ clarion calls that he believed “art is man’s expression of his joy in labour” . Morris believed that all workmen have the right to enjoy their work.

Throughout his life Morris appeared to be captivated with the medieval world. He studied Medieval history during his early education and it’s possible he was simply a nostalgic, or perhaps Morris was fascinated and maybe aggravated, with the contrasts he saw when comparing the workers attitudes and conditions of the industrialisation, with the medieval times he had fallen in love with.

Morris explains his belief “that all workmen were artists in the Middle Ages” and that during the sixteenth century this began to change. It “created a division of labour between workmen and artists” and by the late eighteenth century this division had now “reduced workmen to machines”. Seeing how workmen were now slaves to their trade, Morris decided that he was to attempt to change manufacturing conditions saying, “we do sorely need a system of production which will give us beautiful surroundings and pleasant occupation”. Morris wanted people to find joy in their craft.

All workers deserve a safe environment and all workers deserve to be enjoying what they are employed to do, is this a reality? No. There are occupations that are simply unenjoyable, certain situations people have to deal with that cannot be described as pleasurable. As a society, we have moved mass production far away, that as consumers, we don’t think about it anymore until we hear of a factory collapse in India or a story is shown on the nightly news. In the world of today perhaps Morris would be impressed with small pottery studios, craft breweries or artesian bakeries. As would he be impressed with brightly lit, ergonomic offices found throughout technology companies. The reality is however, that little has changed. There are still dangerous factory conditions across the world, employing underpaid and over-worked employees.

Whilst there has been improvement from conditions seen in the 19th century, did Morris influence the modern-day working environment in any specific way? Encouraging people to find joy in their work and creating the movement of the arts and crafts has and remains to be pivotal in today’s society. As a result of the movement, regular art programs were introduced to schools and consumer attitudes toward hand crafted objects continued to grow. The movement was built around honesty for the product. In a time where factory made goods were seen as cheap and dishonest fakes, the movement celebrated the artists, designers and makers for their ‘honest’ handmade products.

Morris had grand ideas about transforming factory conditions but outside of his own company, it seems his impact was as great as any other part-time revolutionary. There is no denying that conditions have improved since the 19th century, whether Morris is entirely responsible for that change is unknown, but he did make a large influence.

Revolt in the fact of Industrialisation

Occurring throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Industrialisation swept across Britain. It was something William Morris despised as he saw industrialization as “destruction of the human spirit” . Furthermore, he hated industrialisation as it created an even greater divide between the rich and the poor and how it turned intricate design processes into simple step-by-step actions performed by a multitude of people instead of just one craftsman.

Morris spoke about bettering the lives of factory workers, by improving their conditions and relieving them from being slaves to machines. In one of his lectures titled “Art and Labour” , Morris spoke about three ideals that a worker’s life should revolve around. Firstly, the worker must claim to live in a pleasant house and a pleasant space. Secondly, the worker must be well-educated. And finally, the worker must have due leisure. When they are at work, they must work and that there must be set working hours to ensure overtime for profit is never carried out.

Now whilst the last claim seems realistic and something today’s standards have mostly continued to follow. The first two claims seem to come from that naivety spoken about earlier. Morris was born into a wealthy family where income and a safe, beautiful home was something he needn’t work for. He was someone that never worked in the terrible factory conditions, for the terrible wages, or never had to worry about his income, so who was he to tell these lower-class workers, that in order to live a pleasurable life, they must first both own a pleasant house and be educated. When statements like this come from Morris, it portrays a different side to him that many historians wish to avoid. A side that shows he didn’t understand other people’s difficulties, that perhaps education was never a choice in their life.

Whilst Morris suggested these things it seemed as though he wasn’t trying to help in any specific way. Yes, he started his own factory that enforced these conditions, but he refused to believe in offering workers a higher wage as he didn’t think they “could be any good to a man condemned to live all his days in a toiling hell” . He further states that “as long as profit has to be made out of his labour, they (wages) must be kept down to the point which a long series of struggles has made him think just necessary to live on”.

Morris & Co. underwent change to suit his ideals, yet it was still considered a factory situation. As hard as Morris tried, he couldn’t eliminate the deafening noise of the industrial looms and the repetitive work associated with printing processes and these were the very things Morris sought to abolish. Child workers were employed at Morris & Co. because their fingers were quicker on tapestries. In addition, Morris and Co. was a capitalist outfit run on family money with the bulk of profits going into his own pocket.

Perchance, Morris wasn’t the socialist king he is so often presented as, and even the wonderful William Morris couldn’t resist some small pieces of the Industrial revolution.

As well as protesting Industrialisation, in his own little ways, Morris rebelled against some of the new technology being created. Instead of using Aniline dye (used to dye fabrics blue but has the accompanying scent of rotten fish) , Morris chose to revive indigo. An incredibly old-fashioned method of dying fabrics (dating back 6000 years). By opting to create with this method, as opposed to the much more modern method of the aniline dyes. It was through the extra work involved that Morris was delivering a subtle message to his audience. He was saying that you the consumer are worth it, that the object you are purchasing is so much more than just the object itself, it is about a lasting relationship, a legacy.

A simple change in consumer education was not enough in Morris’ mind. To achieve great change, it needed to be a revolution. The change that Morris felt necessary would only ever be possible by the workers taking charge, ownership and control over society and ultimately the economy.

Whilst Morris spread word about the conditions of factory workers and used his own company to highlight just how good it could be, did Morris really make a difference? He spoke across the country a series of lectures on this topic but is there any withstanding evidence that his influence pushed the change that 19th century Britain needed?

Conclusion

William Morris was a man with good intentions. Unhappy with how Industrialisation was harming craft, he worked diligently and attempted to create change, and that he did. If it weren’t for the uprise of the arts and crafts movement perhaps the world we live in today would be as bland and as drab as the world Morris so hated. Thanks to William Morris, the world is more beautiful. In relation to his ideas and ideals on work, they were “human ideas and these had large appeal”. He fought for freedom of expression with ones work, for the worker a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment that could never be found in the modern machine obsessed age of Victorian Britain. And whilst Morris didn’t believe in raising wages and he had very narrowminded views on what it meant to live a pleasurable life, he tried to better the working environment of his own employees and that he did well.

The famous wallpaper designs are still available to purchase. Customers have the option of a hand-printed roll, retailing at $327, or a machine produced variety at the much lower price of $50 per roll . It seems that even after his death, Morris’ lifelong dream of skilfully hand-crafted design for everyone, is yet to be fully achieved.

And as a community, we haven’t yet fully embraced the ideas and ideals of William Morris in the ways that perhaps we should. Not every person’s home is beautiful. Not every factory environment is an enjoyable one. There are small businesses living Morris’ utopian dreams, but the bulk of the worlds businesses still strive for one thing, and that is profit.

If the world were to live by his ideas, but approach it in a less naïve way, then surely it would see benefit. For Morris was a great man, with tremendous ideas, but if he were as influential as he could’ve been, then surely the world would’ve been just that little bit greater than what it is.