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22nd January 2016
Welcome to part two of our Philip Webb chronicle! We’re concentrating on his early years in this blog, his friendship to Morris at this formative time was important and we look to explore this more as well as understand how both Webb and Morris rose to be such influential figures in their crafts- before they could do this, they had to learn their trade…
On the 16th May 1854, Webb began work at G.E. Street’s office- his salary? £1 a week- I bet we all wish such a an architect was a pound a week! It wasn’t until 1856 that Morris and Webb met, when Morris went to work for G.E.Street in Oxford, whilst Webb was the senior assistant. It has been recorded that Webb described Morris as, “a slim boy, like a wonderful bird just out of his shell.” It was these two who were to become the Art and Crafts movements most influential pioneers. It was around this time that Webb and Morris took up the crafts that would make them famous over a hundred years after their deaths for the talents they possessed- the crafts included carving, wood-engraving, embroidery and clay-modelling. Morris was inspired by John Ruskin who designed many beautiful Gothic buildings, and upon finishing his degree he devoted his life to architecture.
Portrait of Philip Webb by Charles Fairfax Murray. ©National Portrait Gallery, London
Morris didn’t enjoy the work in Street’s office, he found the measured drawings tedious and difficult. Webb and Morris continued their friendship as Webb showed him his favourite haunts in Oxford, taking him to old churches and showing him the architecture around them. They formed a close friendship which would last until Morris’ death, and have important affects on English architecture, interior design and the preservation of historical buildings. The book Philip Webb, ‘Pioneer of Arts & Crafts Architecture’ by Sheila Kirk summarises their friendship wonderfully, “Their personalities were complementary. Morris, usually somewhat unkempt, was mercurial, rebellious, vehement, and prone to sudden enthusiasms which he pursued with an egotism Webb described as ‘amusing and childlike’, and to sudden violent rages in which he sometimes damaged himself and the furniture. Webb, a tall, slim man with a serious, intelligent and kindly expression, was extremely reticent, of equable temper, self-controlled, slow to form or change his beliefs, and careful of his appearance. Both men were steadfast on matters of principle, loyal, sincere, lacking in pettiness, and wholly without pretence, with a strong aversion to the artificiality of formal social occasions.” (Kirk, 2005, P.15)
When Burne-Jones first met Webb, he apparently was suprised he was of the same age as him as when Morris described his friend from work he spoke of him as a, “very fine old fellow in the office.” (Kirk, 2005, p 15) Morris left Street’s office in 1856, he was tired of architecture full time, and though it remained a passion, he preferred to create things with his own two hands- though an architect designs the property, they don’t create it, and so he left to pursue painting.
Philip Webb’s drawing instruments. Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust for display at Red House, 2014. ©National Trust/Sophia Schorr-Kon
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, begun in 1848 had been disbanded by 1856, but, “a wider circle of painters, centred round Rosetti, had espoused its ideal of portraying people and events in the colours and attitudes of real life instead of the formal conventionalised postures and arrangements, with colour subordinated to drawing, demanded by the royal academy.” (Kirk, 2005, p15)
Webb was, by all accounts, a lovely man. He was immensely kind, honest, and was hugely supportive of his friends successes. When someone was worse off than him, he made a point to help them out even if he didn’t have it himself, he was known for giving money as ‘gifts’ not loans, so only if someone came into good fortune were they to repay him. When Morris set up the Kelmscott Press in 1891, Morris insisted on giving Webb a copy of every book he published, so Webb bought a copy of every book published to lend to friends so Morris wouldn’t financially suffer from his generosity. Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, the secretary of Morris’ Kelmscott Press from 1891-1896 recalled Morris referred to Webb as, “the best man that he had ever known.” (Kirk, 2005, p16.)
After Morris met and married Jane Burden, Burne-Jones engaged to Georgiana Macdonald and Rossetti to Elizabeth Siddall, Morris decided to build a house in the country to realise his and Burne-Jones’ dream of a monastic establishment, calling themselves the brotherhood. This had to be revised once the men married, and the dream would be realised on a part time basis. This house remains today as Red House, which we will focus on in our next blog, and is now a beautiful National Trust property which we would highly recommend visiting.
Webb met Faulkner when they were both painting the Debating Hall, and in 1858 Faulkner, Webb and Morris took a trip to Paris, which has become a famous holiday as the three were heavily inspired whilst in France, Webb returned to England with not only an intensive knowledge of British buildings, but now also an awareness of French churches, castles and townhouses. Taking a month to complete, the three rowed from Paris to Caudebec, the boat arrived with a hole in it from Oxford, to Morris’ fury. “They hoisted sail in favourable winds, slept at inns, and stopped to explore towns and make short excursions. It was an unusual and adventurous holiday, involving not only he studying of medieval architecture but also hilarious battles with soda-water syphons, a leaking boat, being stranded in a lock because Morris had angered the lock-keeper, and a narrow escape from being shipwrecked by the tidal bore.” (Kirk, 2005, p.19)
Our next blog picks up the story after the friends return from their trip!
Posted in News by Laura
Gorgeous Mallow Forest Green in the sunshine this week ☀️ Our heavyweight fabric is so versatile with so many crafts, what will you make? 🧵
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #greenfloral #craftingfabrics
Wrap an order with us for a custom bundle of some wedding table linens 🌿 These Mallow Forest Green napkins and a custom table runner are now on their way to a customer to adorn their wedding tables, we’re so pleased to be involved in the tables of a few weddings this year! 🤍 If you are looking for gorgeous timeless William Morris florals for your tables, get in touch we’d love to discuss it with you ✨
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#williammorris #weddingtablescape #weddingtables #weddinglinens #weddingtablescape
It’s coming home! 🏴 To celebrate, take 15% off our website all weekend with code: HOME at checkout ⚽️ Hurry it ends Tuesday 🌿
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#williammorris #england #itscominghome⚽️ #britishbusiness #floralprint
The latest project, a little quilted jacket! ✨ Our William Morris Merton Blue cotton fabric is looking gorgeous, we’ll show you it when it’s finished ☺️ Remember if you’re quilting, our cotton fabric is perfect for the projects and we have lots of complimenting designs and colour ways within our range! 🪡
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#merton #quiltedjacket #quiltingfabric #quiltingfabrics #fabricstack
We’re often asked what the different weights of our fabrics are and what projects they’d be good for. These are our three different types of fabrics in our Brother Rabbit red colourway - cotton on the right, heavyweight in the middle and pvc on the left ✨ As you can see on the second photo, and as the name suggests, our heavyweight fabric has a thicker, heavier weave which makes it good for projects such as curtains and light upholstery 🪡 Our cotton fabric is perfect for quilting and projects such as dress making but honestly the amount of crafts that can be made out of them both are endless! 🫶🏻 Our pvc fabric is great to put straight on the table as it won’t fray so doesn’t need a hem and is easy to maintain as it’s wipe clean! All our fabrics are sold by the half metre and if you’d like a sample of any of our fabrics in any weight just let us know and we’ll get a free sample sent to you! 💌
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#williammorris #cottonfabric #quiltingfabric #curtainfabric #ukfabric
Our William Morris range is a gorgeous mix of colours and florals, which is your favourite? In some designs such as Strawberry Thief, Brother Rabbit, Willow Bough and Mallow we have different colour ways that we digitally print in the UK so check our website for the full range! 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #preraphaelite #quiltingfabric #fatquarters #britishbusiness
Perhaps the most famous Morris design, Strawberry Thief was registered in 1883, inspired by Morris watching the thrushes stealing strawberries from under his fruit nets at the beautiful @kelmscottmanor 🍓 It was printed using the indigo dye technique, which was labour intensive and first attempted in 1875 but not perfected for 8 years 🎨 We also print Strawberry Thief in a beautiful red 🫶🏻
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#strawberrythief #historicdesigns #britishdesign #kelmscottmanor
Gorgeous Golden Lily, designed in 1897, it’s been a timelessly popular design ever since but did you know that it really increased in popularity in the 1960s when the Beatles George Harrison wore a Golden Lily shirt? ✨
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#goldenlily #wmorris #georgeharrison #englishsummer #englishdesign
Daisy is a special one to many as it was the second ever design Morris created, in 1864, made up of repeating drawn Meadow Daisies 🌼
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#morrisandco #preraphaelite #preraphaelites #daisy #daisydesign
We print Willow Bough in this beautiful blue and also in green 🌿 First designed in 1887, it was first produced as a wallpaper design which May Morris, Williams daughter, used to decorate her bedroom before being adapted for fabric in 1895 when it was block printed in Merton Abbey 🌿
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#maymorris #mertonabbey #mertonabbeymills #willowbough
Trellis is a special design as it was the first wallpaper he designed for his company, Morris & Co. In 1864 🌿 It was inspired by the rose trellis in the garden of his stunning home @redhousent that he co designed with his friend and architect, Philip Webb
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#philipwebb #redhouse #trellis #rosetrellis
We print Mallow in a wine colourway and this beautiful forest green colour ✨ It was first printed in 1879 and used to hang in the wonderful Arts & Crafts home, @standennt in the Croxley bedroom 🫶🏻
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#a
you’ve got to make everything an event, including breakfast! 🥐
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On the table;
Willow Bough blue placemats- £38.99
Willow Bough blue napkins- £20.99 ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #preraphaelites #floralhome
Have you seen our forest green colourways of Mallow and Brother Rabbit? 🌿 We brought them out last year and were so happy that they’re ever so popular with everyone 💚 This week we’ve also got a 10% discount running on our website with code: floralsummer 🌅
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #wmorris #williammorrisdesign #preraphaelite
Did you know all our fabrics are printed and all our products manufactured in the UK? 🤍 It’s important to us that our William Morris fabrics are all high quality and the printed colours all beautiful to ensure all his designs live on timelessly to a high standard 🇬🇧
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Products featured; our Daisy William Morris tea towel - £10.99 ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #morris #floralteatowel #floralhome
A moment for the greens! 💚 Can you name all these beautiful green William Morris designs? 🌿 All digitally printed here in the UK 🇬🇧 The good thing seeing them all together is you can see which work together for a sewing project or quilt, or layered together for your next tablescape! 🫧
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #preraphaelites #floralfabrics
Did you know we do bundles of our fabric offcuts? 🌿 Perfect for sewer and quilters, they’re various sizes and designs and available on our Etsy and website - this is our latest “almost fat quarter” bundle that all are almost 50cm pieces, you could even make double sided cushions or anything! What would you create? 🪡🧵 (message us if you’d like a link to our bundles!🫧)
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#williammorris #fatquarters #fatquarterbundle #preraphaelite #quiltingcotton
With this hot weather upon us, if you’re like us and using it to get all your washing out and dry, we thought we’d tell you our washing guidelines! 🫧 We’d recommend folding your fabric face to face when in the wash (so pattern side to pattern side!) to protect the print and then wash at 30 degrees, hang on the line to dry! 🧺 All our fabrics are digitally printed in the UK and products manufactured in the UK 🇬🇧
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#williammorris #goldenlily #flowerscape #wmorris #preraphaelite
All our wonderful William Morris fabrics are digitally printed here in the UK, creating high quality print in incredible colour ways, if you’re quilting and crafting from our cotton and heavyweight cotton fabrics, we thought it’d be handy to have all the pattern repeats in an easy to save post ☺️
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#williammorris #craftingfabric #quiltingfabric #floralfabrics #patternfabric
Merton in blue is one of the most beautiful William Morris designs, a timeless blue and white, it was first designed in 1888!
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisdesign #merton #preraphaelite
If you’d like a sample of Merton, just send us a message and we’ll get one sorted out for you!
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#williammorris #floralfabric #blueandwhite #blueandwhitefabric #tablescape
Have you seen Merton before? It’s so underrated as a Morris design we think! It was actually the first design that he printed on rotary screens under the name “Morris & Co.” After their rebrand from “Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.’” 🌿 We’re just appreciating it during peony season!
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#peony #peonyseason #morris #morrisandco #preraphaelites
Taking a closer look at beautiful Lily design, a timeless design Morris designed in 1874, if you’d like a sample of Lily, just let us know! 💌
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The table details;
Lily napkins- £16.99 for 4
Lily tablecloths- starting from £29.99 depending on size
Also mentioned;
Lily cotton by the half metre- £9.25
Lily heavyweight cotton by the half metre- £10.25
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #lily #quiltingcotton
When cutting fabric stacks, we always wonder what is being made from them, we often get messages about quilts being stitched together with various tonal colours, curtains ready to be part of daily life or dresses being sewn to be worn to the next big event, so if you ever make anything from our fabrics- whether it be a huge project or a tiny one made of our scrap bundles, do let us know what you make! 🪡🧵
Can you name the designs within the photo? All sold by the half meter, £18.50 per metre of cotton, £20.50 per metre of heavyweight cotton 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric #floralfabric #quiltingcotton
Putting the spotlight on Mallow Forest Green, we love this design so much it’s so effortlessly beautiful, it’s been admired in homes for more than 147 years since William Morris designed it ✨
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The table details;
Mallow napkins- £16.99
Mallow tablecloths- starting at £29.99 depending on size
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#williammorris #weddingtablescape #weddingtableflowers #preraphaelites #artsandcraftsmovement
Mid week tables require; a vase of gorgeous fresh flowers, as many sweet treats as you can get your hands on, and of course, a gorgeous tablecloth set- this Willow Bough blue is one of our all time favourite William Morris designs, it’s utterly timeless and so beautiful 🌿
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The table details;
Willow Bough blue napkins- £16.99
Willow Bough tablecloths- starting at £29.99 depending on size
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #englishdesign #myfloralhome
A little update from us 🇬🇧
From 1st July, our product prices will be increasing due to continued rises in manufacturing and material costs.
We’ve worked hard to absorb these increases for as long as possible, but to continue providing the quality you expect from us, a small price adjustment is now necessary.
Every product we create is proudly printed and manufactured here in the UK, using high-quality materials and processes that ensure a finish we’re proud of. Our fabrics are all digitally printed to give a crisp finish.
If you’ve been thinking about placing an order, now is the perfect time — all orders placed before 1st July will be at our current prices.
To thank you for your support, we’re offering an exclusive discount before the new prices take effect.
Use code: thankyou
Enjoy 10% off your order until 14th June
This is the perfect opportunity to place your order at current prices and enjoy an additional saving before the increase.
Thank you for supporting a UK small business and for choosing quality. We truly appreciate every order ❤️
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#uksmallbiz #madeintheuk #williammorris #fabricstore #floralfabric
Aren’t these the most gorgeous blooms!! 🫶🏻 This is our William Morris Compton design and it’s so underrated as a design, it’s beautiful year round because all the different details can be brought out of it, pair it with springtime greens to pop the green tones or autumnal burnt oranges during the colder months, it’s so versatile! ✨ Swipe to see my little photoshoot gatecrasher 😂
All our products are digitally printed and manufactured in the UK 🇬🇧
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #compton #artsandcraftsmovement #cottagecorekitchen
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