What’s On

What was the world of textiles out of which William Morris' practice emerged? And what inspired his designs? In this lecture, Dr Isabella Rosner, examines the bright, simplistic embroidery that had a monopoly on British stitching before the Arts and Crafts movement and explores the historical textiles Morris took inspiration from for his own textile designs. 

Join us in a variety of spooky craft activities to create your own Ghostly Fruits, Trellis Pumpkins and Woolly Owls, inspired by the designs of one of the most famous Victorians, William Morris. Get hands-on with printing!  Sketch your design, draw it on foam and then print it to create your own Ghostly Fruits. Make Read More

You are invited to a special valuation event hosted by Lyon & Turnbull at the William Morris Society and in partnership with Emery Walker’s House. The event will take place in the Library and Coach House of Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, William Morris’ London home for the last eighteen years of his life. Lyon & Turnbull specialists Read More

Taking place in the atmospheric surroundings of Kelmscott House – the home of William Morris from 1878 – this unique one-day workshop and masterclass is a wonderful opportunity to follow in the footsteps of William Morris. Working where William Morris created some of his best-known designs, you will be able to immerse yourself in a world of creativity and making inspired by the traditions of the Arts and Crafts movement.

In 1867 and 1868, William Bell Scott – an Edinburgh-born member of the Pre-Raphaelite social circle – created a folding screen, known as The King’s Quair, for the Newcastle industrialist James Leathart. Bold in colour and rich in detail, it illustrates The Kingis Quair, a fifteenth-century poem attributed to King James I of Scotland that Read More

William Morris’s lifelong love for the River Thames is well known, and the relationship went much deeper than simple appreciation. This talk will explore Morris’s designs for printed fabrics, showing how the river and its tributaries were present at every stage of the fabric-making process: both as a key source of design inspiration and as a key industrial resource at his factory on the River Wandle.

Robert Seatter was the first ever poet in residence at Kelmscott Manor, the 'heaven on earth' retreat of William Morris from 1871 to 1896. Out of his residency came The House of Words, a unique collection of poems exploring the diverse themes of the house from creativity and making to love and desire, as well as probing the deeper question of what Morris's legacy means to the England of now, struggling to define itself between the pull of the past and the invitation of the future. 

The William Morris Society was founded in 1955 to make the work and ideas of William Morris more widely known, in the belief that they are as important today as in his lifetime. Over the last sixty year the Society has built up a wonderful collection of designs, wallpapers, textiles, Kelmscott Press books, ceramics and archive material. Please join us as we explore some of the key objects from the William Morris Society’s collection as we celebrate seventy years since the Society’s foundation.

Karen Livingstone will talk about her new book, Women Pioneers of the Arts & Crafts Movement which is a celebration of the work and ambition of the women who were at the heart of the most influential art and design movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She will shine a light on the vital contribution of figures such as May Morris, Gertrude Jekyll, Annie Garnett, and many others.