FAQs

Your Cart

Close
Paper Plane Your order qualifies for free standard delivery
Subtotal £0.00
Delivery £0.00
Order Total £0
Checkout Securely

A Closer Look: William Morris Trellis

19th August 2020

In November 1862, Morris designed Trellis. One of our all time favourite William Morris designs, isn’t it funny to think that 158 years later, it’s still a stand-out, stunning design. Proving that true design never ages or goes out of fashion.

Trellis

So let’s share some more about Trellis. One thing with William Morris designs; there’s usually a story behind them. Whether it’s from his inspiration or simply the history behind them. The rooms they’ve decorated, where they’ve been featured within English history.

Trellis pattern was designed in 1862, then registered and manufactured in 1864. The gap in dates is simply because with 12 blocks needed to hand block print the intricate design, it was laborious and importantly, expensive. That means, he needed to wait until his company Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. had enough money to finance the designs. This also included other notable designs including Daisy and Fruit.

Inspired by nature

Like many of his other inspirations, Trellis was inspired by nature. More specifically by the rose Trellis in his garden of Red House, his Bexleyheath home. When you study the design, you can almost put yourself back there, can almost hear the bees buzz and the flap of the birds wings.

Nature runs through the entire design, can’t you just feel the wind blowing as the roses grow up the trellis. We always find it completely incredible that this design has been adorning the walls and soft furnishing of homes over 158 years – we wonder the stories of all these families and who they were!

If you ever get the chance to visit the National Trust property, Red House, you’ll see why Edward Burne-Jones described the property as “the beautifullest place on earth.” Completed in 1860, we hope you visit it on a sunny day. Then you can stand outside and wonder at it’s architectural beauty.

There’s so much passion behind the build and design of the house. Morris and Philip Webb worked together on lots of the ideas, collaborating on the features. Edward Burne-Jones created some stained glass and paintings which can be seen at the house today. Plus Jane and Bessie Burden created beautiful embroidery to decorate the home.

Philip Webb

The birds within the design were designed by his good friend and colleague, Philip Webb. Webb was the architect of Red House and they worked together lots over the years much to our enjoyment as they created such beautiful designs! If you’d like to learn more about Philip Webb, we’ve written lots of blogs about him. A fascinating and talented man, we’ve written blogs such as this one.

Made in the UK

As with all our products, Trellis is printed and manufactured here in the United Kingdom. If you’d like a sample of any of our fabrics, please contact us.

Our William Morris designs are all licensed and are printed both size and colour-wise to our own specifications . This is to make sure they best suit our products.

To see the full range of Trellis products and fabric, take a look at the collection here!

Related Articles

Post Title

Fancy a virtual holiday?

We hope you're all doing well right now and staying as safe as possible. It's clear that one thing we're all missing in particular (apart...

Post Title

Happy Birthday Philip Webb!

You may have seen, if you're a regular reader of our blog, that not only do we like to focus on William Morris, but also...

Post Title

The Portrait of a Lady

This dress is on display at the Barley Hall, York.  It is the dress worn by the lovely Nicole Kidman in The Portrait of a...

Is there anything better than fresh flowers? 🌻 Bringing sunshine and nature indoors with Merton blue on the table today 🤍
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #floraltable #flowerstagram #blueandwhite
In 1864, William Morris designed gorgeous Trellis- inspired by the rose trellis in the gardens of @redhousent 🌹 We’ve got a limited collection of small and large cotton tote bags that we’ve just put live on the website- the perfect accompaniment to your next day out, it’s a design that’s proved itself to be timeless, plus it’ll go with every outfit, what’s not to love! 🤍 If everyone loves our cotton totes, we could bring them out in more designs, which design would you like to see a tote in? 🌟
•
•
•
#inspiredbynature_ #williammorris #trellis #garden #floraltotebag
Perfect in every colour; it’s Brother Rabbit ✨ Our licensed William Morris Forest Green colour way of Brother Rabbit now comes in tea towel form to add some timeless floral magic to your kitchen, did you know the birds and rabbits within the design were drawn by Philip Webb? 🐦‍⬛ 
Our tea towels are all printed and manufactured in the UK, and are £10.99 each 🌟
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #floral #philipwebb #floralprint
Gorgeous Mallow Forest Green in the sunshine this week ☀️ Our heavyweight fabric is so versatile with so many crafts, what will you make? 🧵
•
•
•
#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 ✨ 
•
•
•
#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 🌿
•
•
•
#williammorris #england #itscominghome⚽️ #britishbusiness #floralprint
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 🌅
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #wmorris #williammorrisdesign #preraphaelite
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! 🫧
•
•
•
#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!🫧)
•
•
•
#williammorris #fatquarters #fatquarterbundle #preraphaelite #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 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric #floralfabric #quiltingcotton