Your order qualifies for free standard delivery
8th October 2017
Working on and launching a new design is always an exciting time- getting the colouring and detailing just right is something we here at Laura’s Beau take very seriously! We’re excited to finally launch our new licensed William Morris design that we’ve been teasing over on our social channels; Trellis.
Whilst on numerous trips to Standen, Trellis was always a design that caught our eye. This can still been seen today in Standen.
Trellis, first designed for wallpaper in 1864, was the first wallpaper designed by William Morris. During his career, he designed 41 wallpapers and five ceiling papers.
Remember that the papers were all hand-printed in distemper colours from pear wood blocks. Why pear wood? Basically, it’s made up of a fine grain which is absorbent and whilst it was easy to carve, it was also durable. He turned to Messrs. Jeffrey of Essex Road, Islington, to help him with the process. The printing process was hand done and therefore it was an arduous task – each colour within the print required it’s own separate block. Take a look at Morris’ prints and you’ll see how his intricate use of colour could cause an issue here! In some designs, there are over 40 colours which makes the task labour intensive and expensive. He initially produced three wallpapers in 1864, Trellis, Daisy and Fruit (also known as Pomegranate.) These must have been an expensive initial investment as each design needed 12 blocks – perhaps why he shied away from original wallpaper designs with fine details of nature until the early 1870s where we can trace he began with these designs again – perhaps we can chalk this up to influence or perhaps the fact the Firm at this point had more financial stability and could afford to print such detailed designs in this way.
Put the three patterns side by side and you’ll notice some similarities – they’re almost simple in design compared to some of his more elaborate later patterns, though by no means less beautiful and they show off his raw talent from the beginning. May Morris spoke about these first designs by her father that it was as though, “he had been at the trick for years.” All three have naturalistic elements, flowers, leaves, the birds in Trellis and the fruit in Fruits. From the beginning and throughout his later patterns, we can see he used the same influences, always so influenced by his surroundings and by nature in particular, he created so many designs which have endured the test of time and remained popular by using the same sources of inspiration, Helen Dore notes this in her book titled William Morris, “from the beginning it is significant that his genius lay in creating so many different designs from a limited repertoire of relatively few elements. Most importantly, these early papers illustrate Morris’s ability to visualise how a repeat pattern would work in the whole – a tremendous gift.” (Page 70) May Morris spoke of her fathers talent, “in designing for a pattern meant to be repeated, you never can tell the effect absolutely till it is seen in mass.”
Though Trellis was designed first, it wasn’t produced first as it was delayed as Webb designed the birds, something he often did throughout their careers together. Dore writes beautifully about the design, “The idea or the trellis scheme, which provides a uniform rectangular grid contrasting with the continuous motif of the trailing, meandering rose stem, was probably inspired by the rose trellises at the Red House; Berwick’s Birds was always a major source of design inspiration for Webb.” (Page 71)
Webb kept Trellis as one of his personal favourite designs which was proved by him using it extensively at Standen, where you can still see it today in both the lobby through to the conservatory and in the Morning Room corridor. The house has a huge connection to the fabric and our friends there love our licensed Trellis design! May Morris also remembered Trellis being used in her bedroom at Queen Square – in fact a little anecdote she shared once was that she used to lie away frightened by one of the birds “because he was throughout to be wicked and very alive.”
We love our new design and hope you all do too! Which is your favourite Trellis product? Check them all out here!
Posted in News by Laura
Florals florals florals ✨ These are our exclusive range of designs that we’ve restored from our French archive that dates from the late 1800s- early 1900s, would you like a sneak peak at our archive? There’s still lots of gorgeous designs in there ready to shine again! 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#floral #floralprint #floralfabric #floralfabrics #smallbusiness
Gorgeous wildflowers gracing this tablescape ✨ Lily is such an underrated design by William Morris, it’s one of our favourites! 🫶🏻 we’ve got 20% off everything on our website this weekend with code; WEEKEND if you have your eye on anything, but be quick, it ends midnight tomorrow! 🤎
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #lily #floraltable #wildflower
Cut this gorgeous fat quarter bundle today ✂️ Can you name all the gorgeous William Morris designs? ✨
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #fatquarter #fatquarterbundles #floralfabric
Did you know all our William Morris designs are licensed William Morris designs that we digitally print and manufacture in the UK 🇬🇧
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #floralfabric #smallbusinesssupportingsmallbusiness #quiltingfabric
Cut this gorgeous fabric stack today- can anyone name these iconic William Morris designs? ✨
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #quiltfabric #curtainfabric #floralfabric
Our fabric patchwork bundles, fabric bundles and remnants have been restocked on our website now! 🤎 With only a few available, hurry to get the designs you want, the bundles are great for smaller sewing and quilting bundles, what will you create? 🪡🧵
•
#fabricscraps #fabricstash #williammorris #fabricseller #fabriclove
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
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! 🪡
•
•
•
#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! 💌
•
•
•
#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! 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#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 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#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? ✨
•
•
•
#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 🌼
•
•
•
#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 🌿
•
•
•
#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
•
•
•
#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 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#a
you’ve got to make everything an event, including breakfast! 🥐
〰️
On the table;
Willow Bough blue placemats- £38.99
Willow Bough blue napkins- £20.99 ✨
•
•
•
#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 🌅
•
•
•
#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 🇬🇧
〰️
Products featured; our Daisy William Morris tea towel - £10.99 ✨
•
•
•
#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! 🫧
•
•
•
#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
07544 094386
