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28th August 2018
“Ars Longa Vita Brevis” translates to “Life is short, but art endures” and is the latin motto inscribed above the fire place in the drawing room at Red House. We’ve recently been looking through some amazing quotes from Morris himself, and thought we could share them with you.
With such a diverse range of interests and passions, there’s lots of topics that Morris covers with his quotes.
Our top William Morris quote, and one that we have printed onto some of our products is perhaps his most famous and one that is still all over Pinterest and held in iconic status (and practice) for many interior designers;
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’’ – William Morris.
A simple quote, but one that shows his attitude towards design; everything should serve a purpose whether that brings you joy through its beauty or practicality – knowing he designed all his textiles to be beautiful makes this rule even easier if you have his designs throughout your home. Since many of our products are functional as well as beautiful William Morris designs, we tick both boxes!
To summarise his beliefs on society; “I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.”
A quote that we believe resonates with us in terms of how we like to live, “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” – how lovely is that! With the recent increase of the belief of mindfulness, this quote from Morris will still resonate with modern audiences.
Another quote that’s quite well known from William Morris and one that’s quite inspirational in terms of creative motivation, “A good way to rid one’s self of a sense of discomfort is to do something. That uneasy, dissatisfied feeling is actual force vibrating out of order; it may be turned to practical account by giving proper expression to its creative character.” ― William Morris
Whenever we think of everything Morris did and achieved throughout his life, every creative craft process he mastered, perhaps we can gain an insight into his determination and motivation with his quote from ”The Well At The World’s End: Volume I,” where he said, “With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with Beauty. If I have succeeded in some small way, if only in one small corner of the world, amongst the men and women I love, then I shall count myself blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and the work goes on.” – William Morris
The last quote we adore of Morris’ is one that gets better every time we read it with even more meaning, “Not on one strand are all life’s jewels strung.” The fact remains that with such a zest for life, from his work, family, friends, travel, poetry and literature, politics and of course, his designs, there’s so many jewels on his strand! It’s all about the different things that come together to make life amazing!
There we go! Lots of wonderful William Morris quotes, such an interesting and talented man, we love to learn more about him via his words as well as his designs!
Posted in News by Laura
Golden Lily always brings the sunshine indoors ☀️ we’ve got 15% off our website right now with code: florals 🌷
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#williammorris #wmorris #goldenlily #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign
The soundtrack to our day- our fabric cutter! 🎼 If you ever order fabric from us this is how we get our cuts so straight ☺️ Did you know that we sell our fabrics by the half meter, so however big or small your project is, we’ve got fabric for you ☺️ This is our gorgeous William Morris Strawberry Thief blue design, it’s very often on our cutting table as it’s so popular! Do you prefer it in red or in blue? 🍓
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#williammorris #fabricbytheyard #fabricbymeter #floralfabric #ukfabric
The prettiest design; Hearts & Kisses 🤍 An original design, we’ve restored it from our late 1800- early 1900s French archive, we just love how delicate it is 💕 Would you like to see more of our archive designs? 🌷
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#floralfabric #craftingfabric #quiltingfabric #dressmakingfabric #fabricstash
An Easter crafting weekend, our pvc wipe clean fabric is perfect for crafting with easy clean up!🌷🐣 Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend, remember if you’re doing any shopping, our 15% off is still running on our website with code; EASTER 🐣
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#eastertable #floralfabric #williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric
🌟 15% off our website! 🌟 Get your tablescapes sorted for Easter (or get a treat for yourself from the Easter bunny!) with code; EASTER on our website only until Tuesday 7th 🐣🐰
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#williammorris #wmorris #eastertable #eastertablescape #floralhome
Replacing all normal eggs with chocolate ones for the foreseeable future 🐣 Brother Rabbit Green on the table always looks so beautiful, we just love this new colour way in this gorgeous William Morris design ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #eastertable #floraltable #eastertablescape
Spring is officially here! 🌷 Take 15% off our website this weekend with code; EASTER to celebrate spring finally being here, use it to treat yourself or to get those Easter tables ready! 🐣
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#williammorris #wmorris #springfloral #floralkitchen #smallbusiness
Officially mini egg season, so we’ll incorporate them into every meal 🐣🌷 On the table today is our William Morris Lily design, isn’t it a stunning design 🌿
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric #lily #floraltablescape
Gorgeous flowers this weekend 🤍 We can’t get over the beautiful tulips 🌷 Brother Rabbit blue on the table, do you prefer it in the blue, red or green? 🌿
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #flowerpowerfabric #flowers
A moment for the greens 🌿 We know sometimes it’s hard imagining different designs together for projects whether you’re quilting with tonal colours or mix matching curtains and cushions, the things you can do with our William Morris fabrics are endless, so seeing them together you can see how beautifully they pair together ✨ We’ll post the blues next so you can see them together too! 🤍 Message us if you’d like a sample of anything, we send them free in the UK 📮
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabrics #quiltingfabric #ukfabric
Back in stock alert! ✨ All sizes of our gorgeous William Morris blue Strawberry Thief tablecloths & napkins 🌿 Sometimes the easiest napkin folds are the most effective (we have no bias towards this being our favourite just because it contains a chocolate egg… promise…) 🐰
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#williammorris #wmorris #strawberrythief #preraphaelites #eastertablescape
Happy International Women’s Day! 🌍 We thought we’d celebrate by bringing you the words from some amazing Pre Raphaelite women, who’s talents shouldn’t have been so overlooked at the time (but luckily now are being celebrated with their contributions to the arts!) be sure to read into their stories if you have a minute today, they’re all so interesting ✨ As a business run by women, it’s always a day to celebrate 💜
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#internationalwomensday #iwd2026 #womensupportingwomen #preraphaelites #preraphaelitesisterhood
Gorgeous Willow Bough blue on the table paired with layers of beautiful @burleighpottery plates 🤍 Always a stunning design to have on the table, did you know it was first produced in 1887, his daughter May Morris wrote of the design, “We were walking one day by our little stream that runs into the Thames and my father pointed out the detail and soon after the paper was done.” We love the behind the design info, painting a beautiful picture of how he was so inspired by nature 🌿
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #burleighpottery #uksmallbusiness #blueandwhitedecor
Have you seen our range of table runners? ✨ This gorgeous Golden Lily design adds some Morris floral loveliness to the table, pair with matching napkins and placemats for layer upon layer of floral magic ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #floraltablerunner #ukdesigner
Some new fabric bundles are now uploaded on our Etsy! ✨ We’ll post the link to our stories to them but some, like in the picture are almost fat quarters, perfect for quilting and crafting, and some are proper scrap bundles full of various sizes and designs, wonderful for crafting- we always wonder what everyone will create from them 🪡 They get rave reviews on our Etsy with crafters and quilters loving them for smaller projects 🥰
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#williammorrisfabric #williammorris #quiltingfabric #craftingfabric #sewingfabric
We’re so ready to see everyone’s beautiful Easter tablescapes! 🐣 our top necessities for an Easter table are multiple eggs and gorgeous flowers- the best combo! This William Morris Brother Rabbit tablecloth is the perfect addition to Easter with all those rabbits all over it! 🐰
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #easter #eastertablescape
Beauty is always found in the details, our kitchen needs lots of different florals to bring colour and fun to the kitchen - this is our William Morris licensed design Willow Bough in Green, one of our favourite tea towels ✨ Do you have a favourite Morris design tea towel in your kitchen? 🤍
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #wmorris #preraphaelites #willowbough
Have you seen our range of exclusive designs? 🥰 From our exclusive French archive dating back to the late 1800s- early 1900s we’ve faithfully restored them and recoloured them to digitally print them ✨ All perfect for quilting and crafting, they’re such gorgeous designs, in blues and greens (this isn’t the full collection but head to our website to see them all!) 🤍
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#quiltingcotton #craftingfabric #ukfabric #ukfabricshop #quiltingfabric
William Morris designs bring nature indoors with all the florals, birds and botanicals, so we brought some of our garden inside with some beautiful snowdrops on the table - anyone else excited about the garden waking up for spring? 🌱☀️
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#gardenflorals #gardensofengland #williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites
What makes our William Morris oven gloves special? Well….
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#williammorris #wmorris #ovenglove #smallbusiness #floralkitchen
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