William Morris - a designer in the true sense

William Morris (1834–1896) was the single most influential designer of the nineteenth century. This is due to his extraordinarytalent as a pattern designer, his colourful and inspiring life story and to his forceful intellect and personality in 1855 he embarked on a walking tour of Northern France with Edward Burne-Jones to see the great gothic cathedrals. Morris married Jane in 1859 and theymoved into a new home – Red House which was designed for them by the architect Philip Webb and it was here that Morris and hi friendcarried out the complete decoration of the property in the mediaeval style, creating all the furnishings which included stained glasswindows, murals and tapestries.Red House is breaking alot of rules of that era. The shape and form of building was dictated by theinside design. So this was the first example of “Form For Function”. On the completion of Red House in 1861, Morris and hisfriends decided to found Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company, turning their domestic hobby into a commercial venture