14th August 2015
Gabriel Rossetti famously loved animals. So much in fact, that he bought a wombat from Charles Jamrach’s shop, on the Ratcliffe Highway in East London, which was the largest exotic pet shop in the world at this time. Jamrach became the leading importer, breeder and exporter of animals and sold them all around the world to zoos, menageries and noblemen. If you are reading this and are wondering why such shops don’t exist anymore, this story (as well as the obvious animal abuse issues) might shed some light on it! In 1857, a Bengal tiger escaped, and chose a nine year old passing boy to pick up and carry off, until Jamrach forced his hands down the tiger’s throat to force him to let the boy go. The boy was awarded £300 in damages after the incident- but the bronze statue near the entrance to Tobacco Dock commemorates the tiger’s adventures!
Flora the Wombat leaving Wightwick Manor!
Living in Chelsea with a variety of animals including kangaroos, a racoon, a deer, owls, peacocks, a zegu, two laughing jackasses and many more, let to quite a few noise complaints by his neighbours, who weren’t amused about his ever growing collection of exotic animals. Rossetti had two wombats, the famous Top was one of them, he didn’t live long due to Rossetti not knowing how to care for such animals, whom is rumoured to have died as a result of eating Rossetti’s expensive cigars.
We named our Wombat Flora. Wightwick manor had been decorated with Morris interiors, and his contemporaries from the Arts and Crafts movement, by Theodore and Flora Mander, and we therefore thought it a fitting name!
Flora exploring the beautiful gardens at Wightwick Manor!
Flora packing her bags to come home with us!
(Lots of information on Rossetti and his exotic animals can be found here)
Posted in Uncategorized by Laura
Always one of our favourites, our Willow Bough blue tablecloth brings the beauty of William Morris into the home, remember our whole website is 15% off this week! Use code: springblooms 🌿
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Making everything in life its own little event, even a coffee and a cake 🫶🏻 Featuring our Strawberry Thief red William Morris design napkin and placemat 🍓
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The easiest napkin fold is so effective 🫶🏻 Next to a dinner plate or placed on the plate with a cake fork, it’s perfect for easy yet chic presentation 🍴
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Our William Morris Lily design is back in stock! 🤍 A gorgeous design especially this spring/ summer it’s a timeless design we adore year after year 🌿
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Is it just us or does anyone else come across an old photo and get upset that the cake is now gone? 🍰
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Lay the table with us for Easter dinner 🐰 These rabbit napkin folds are so simple yet effective, will you give them a go this weekend? 🐣
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Us 🤝 simple napkin folding 🎀
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A really simple napkin fold for your Easter table! 🐣 We used a napkin ring but you could use ribbon or twine, whatever you’ve got! 🐰
Just fold the napkin into a triangle and roll up from the point until you can fold it in half to make the ears 🐇 You could put a little creme egg in there as an extra treat 🤎
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Hopping into Easter week with a fab 10% off our website, just use code: EASTER on our website 🐣
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Have you seen our new remnants and bundle section on our website? 🪡 Perfect for quilting, sewing and crafting, they’re all in varying sizes and we’ll keep it constantly updated 🧵
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Layering florals on florals this Spring 🪻🌷
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The start of the Easter tablescapes this weekend 🐣 We cant resist a little rabbit napkin, so easy and so effective we can post a reel on how to do the napkin fold! 🐰 This is our pvc fabric in William Morris Brother Rabbit red which is perfect for on the table as it simply wipes clean so isn’t an issue for any spills 🧼
We know that seasonal tablescapes whilst looking amazing can often seem really expensive on Instagram so we wanted to prove that with a simple napkin fold and a few little inexpensive decor bits it can be wonderfully seasonal yet affordable and used every year - the carrots are from @poundland and the cute little sheep are from @sainsburys 🐑
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A gorgeous spring day today spent in the garden, anyone else unable to spend a day without a pot of mini eggs nearby? 🐣 Our pvc fabric is perfect for garden tables, a simple wipe clean and it’s ready for outdoor meals - just make sure to not leave it outside in the rain! ☔️☀️ On the table today is our William Morris Compton pvc, a year- round fave of ours 🤎
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Spring has truly sprung this week and we’re looking forward to Easter 🐣 Our William Morris Daisy was looking gorgeous on the table with a little Easter treat 🐰
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One of the crafters among us couldn’t help but steal some of our new designs from work to create a gorgeous quilted bag from all our original designs to take to Chicago with them on holiday 🤍 For all of us back home in Yorkshire we’re a little jealous seeing all the holiday snaps of the bag round the city! ✨ All these designs are now available on our website 🥰
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It’s back in stock!! 🍓 Our cotton Strawberry Thief blue licensed William Morris design is now back in stock - and digitally printed 🌿 We hope you can tell how crisp the design is from this video, the details within the design are so clear in the digital print which is fabulous becuase there’s so many beautiful details within all Morris designs 🎨
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The colours of Compton 😍 did you know some of our designs are now digitally printed? 🤎 digital print gives top quality printing design with a really crisp finish that brings to life the whole design and its details, of course, we’re still printing in the UK 🇬🇧
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Pack an order with us of our new quilting fabrics 🌿 These are all our exclusive designs that are now available on our website, and each beautiful design has been faithfully resorted from our French archive, we wonder what they’ll be made into 🤍
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A tea towel hanging in the kitchen, bringing floral magic easily into the home 🌿 Can you believe William Morris designed Willow Bough in 1887? It’s such a timeless design we love imagining how many people throughout the years have chosen to have it decorating their homes 🤍
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Use code: birthday for 20% off our entire website 🌿 Includes our fabulous fabric by the half metre, tablewear & kitchenware 🤍
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