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27th November 2017
Born in 1851, Emery Walker was born in Paddington, London. From a contrasting background to Morris’ more affluent upbringing, Walker was born the son of a coach builder, growing up in a working class family, he was forced to leave school aged 13 so he could start earning and contributing to the family’s finances. Despite this, Walker believed wholeheartedly in self-education which we can see truly held high value for Walker as later in life his writings were read by audiences that far out did his own education and his intellect was appreciated by them. He also had associations with a few organisations we’ve written about multiple times on our blogs – the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the Society of Antiquaries.
After his experience as an apprentice draper that he didn’t care for, in 1873, he joined the Typographic Etching Company based in Chiswick. The company produced blocks which were used in the printing process for illustrations and was done using photographic negatives. After learning his trade, in 1886, Walker set up his own company which became well known for their expertise in photogravure. Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking which uses a copper plate, coated with a light sensitive gelatine tissue – exposed to a film positive which is then etched. The results are a high quality print which reproduces the detail of a photograph. Walker used the technique to reproduce art, photographs and book illustrations – which infact helped revolutionise the book making industry.
So where’s the link to Morris?
It was actually Walker that was a silent partner in the Kelmscott Press, he offered him a partnership with the company due to Walter’s expertise. May Morris spoke about the lecture Walker gave to the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society in 1888 as a ‘eureka’ moment for Morris. Using the Jenson as a basic (a 15th Century Venetian printer called Nicolas Jenson who printed early books) he planned to draw on this and create his own typeface which would help him product ‘The Ideal Book.’ From here, the Kelmscott Press began two years later in 1890, by his own admission Morris wrote, “I was not much of a typographer before Mr Walker took me in hand.” It’s reported that Walter refused the offer to be a partner in the Press as, he wrote, “I had refused at the outset to be his partner, having some sense of proportion,” Morris said “I shall want to do everything my own way” so whether it was Walker’s self deprecating view of himself or if it was because he knew Morris would have been a hard person to work with if everything was his own way, we don’t know. Either way, Walter played an incredibly large part in the Kelmscott Press with the two talking most days and Morris often receiving advice from Walter.
As we’ve written before in our blogs specifically on the Kelmscott Press, that as with many parts of 19th century life, Morris was determined to not allow mass production and industrialisation to completely overtake quality craftsmanship. Though during this time, there was an increased level of literacy and so the demand for books increased in turn, however the high print runs that were demanding meant the reproduction standards were falling. Careless inking and poor paper meant the quality was low. Morris set out to change this.
Emery Walker’s home still stands overlooking the Thames at 7 Hammersmith Terrace, Morris’ neighbour and close friend, the house is a trove of Morris treasures so be sure to visit!
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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What makes our William Morris oven gloves special? Well….
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