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Our William Morris Collection Pt.1

27th August 2018

Our collection of licensed William Morris designs just keeps growing; we’ve now got quite the range! With various colour palates and designs, we wanted to do a roundup on just a few of our designs and the history and stories behind them – this blog is part one of two! With each design, there’s always being a story of it’s design; the influences and inspiration. We do multiple products in each design as well as selling the fabric by the half metre in a variety of fabrics (cotton, cotton drill, heavyweight and pvc) for anyone crafty, there’s so much you can create from our William Morris fabric; from small projects to large.

 

William Morris Trellis

Designed by 1864 by William Morris, Trellis was inspired by the rose trellis found in the garden of his home, Red House. Most of his designs are inspired by nature and Trellis is no different. The first wallpaper he ever created, the birds within the design were drawn by his friend and colleague, Philip Webb.

Along with our Trellis products, we also have a few that also showcase a picture of Morris along with his most famous quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” 

Strawberry Thief 

We produce Strawberry Thief, designed in 1883 in two colour ways; red and blue – we can never quite decide on our favourite!

There’s a lovely story behind this design; once again inspired by nature, it was as Morris sat on the privy that he watched the birds steal the strawberries in his garden from under the fruit nets at his home, Kelmscott Manor. May Morris described this wonderfully when she said, “You can imagine my father going out in the early morning and watching the rascally thrushes at work on the fruit beds and telling the fanned who growls, ‘I’d like to wring their necks!’ that no bird in the garden must be touched. There were certainly more birds than strawberries in spite of attempts at protection. And the walls of the little dining-room are hung with this note of the June garden and the little lords of it.” We love the description and more of an insight into their daily life at Kelmscott Manor, Morris’ paradise.

Strawberry Thief was also a triumph for Morris as it was the first design he perfected using his pioneering indigo-dye technique of printing at Merton Abbey. 

Willow Bough

First designed in 1887, we have Willow Bough in both blue and white and green and cream. This is a stunning patterns with soft willow leaves throughout, it really feels bright and light, bringing nature indoors.

May Morris also spoke about this 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.” Block printed when it was adapted for fabric in Merton Abbey, May Morris even used Willow Bough as her wallpaper design. 

Pimpernel

Pimpernel is a wonderful design, an incredibly famous one for Morris. Designed in 1876, though there are pimpernel flowers within the design, they’re smaller than the large poppies that dominate the design. Today it remains as the wallpaper adorning the walls of the Billiard Room in Wightwick Manor. Again with a naturalistic influence, the repeating pattern is typical of his work. In two colour ways; Pimpernel Cream and Pimpernel Green. 

There’s too many designs to fit into one blog! Make sure to read part two here to learn more about our William Morris designs. It’s incredible to think how long ago his designs were created and the pioneering methods of print he used to create them. Nowadays, his designs are still incredibly popular and influential; interior designers still use his name and designs as examples and his designs are everywhere; even on the runways such as Marc Jacobs. We still print all our fabric in the United Kingdom and all our products are licensed William Morris designs; printed both size and colour ways to our own specification to best suit our designs. 

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The table is all set for a festive weekend dinner party 🎄 We used our William Morris Mallow design, doesn’t it look so perfect this time of year ✨ Featuring our latest floral arrangement 🌿✨
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If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift that will be used year-round, our kitchen sets of tea towels, aprons and ovengloves are sure to be a winner! 🌿
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Have you had any festive table set ups yet? 🎄 This was our table last year for Christmas Day and our Strawberry Thief in Red has seen a lot of use throughout the year too at many a celebration 🌿 Isn’t it amazing how many events happen around the dining table- we may as well make it as pretty as possible! 🤍
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A pink and white Christmas theme on the table today with Charlotte Rose 🌹 It matches perfectly with our Nutcracker theme flower arrangement 🤍🩰
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Did you know we offer a gift wrap service? 🎁 If you’ve got a loved one you’d like to send a floral gift to this year, you can send it straight to their door all wrapped with a note written by the Laura’s Beau elves 🎄🤶🏻 It’s an option on our website only and you can check the gift wrap box at checkout to write your gift tag that we will hand write for you (we also won’t include a reciept or anything of course, but will email it to you instead ✨) Are you giving any William Morris floral goodies to your friends and family this year? 🤍
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Anyone else started on the mince pies this weekend? 🥧 We’ve been feeling rather festive the last week or so, are you all in the festive spirit yet or waiting until December? 🎄 
📸 features our William Morris Brother Rabbit blue design 🤍
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To brighten up the kitchen with florals, we love hanging our William Morris tea towels on hooks, over the oven door or kitchen sink 🌿 An easy way to add a pop of colour or design ✨ They’re a great Christmas gift this year and come in a whole range of Morris designs to suit everyone’s kitchens 🎁 
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Use Code: BF15 for 15% at checkout until Monday 27th at midnight 🌛 Happy Shopping ✨ (valid on our website only; www.laurasbeau.co.uk 🌿
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🎄 A Christmas table set up using our Red Strawberry Thief licensed William Morris design ✨ We love how perfect it is dressed up for Christmas but can be used all year round accessorised for all the seasons 🌿
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Our virtual craft market is now live! ✨ Only on our Etsy page, you can now shop a limited range different sizes of our licensed William Morris fabrics as offcuts and also, some craft bundles🧵And there is also a pretty fabulous Black Friday deal on everything on our Etsy at the moment! 🌿We're always working to be more sustainable (you can read more about what we do on our blog) and offcuts is a great way for us to reduce waste - some are larger pieces that are various widths and lengths and some are bundles of fabric offcuts. ✨ Accurate measurements are in the listing, and you'll find the full market under a tab on our Etsy. The bundles are brilliant gifts for crafters, quilters and those who you know would like to try a whole range of William Morris fabrics 🎁
We'll keep this tab updated as and when we have fabric ready so keep checking back! Remember, we do sell all our fabric by the half metre if you find a new fave in a bundle 🤍
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A wonderful addition to the table, our placemats, available in a range of licensed William Morris designs, set the scene for a whole range of celebrations sat around the table 🥂
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These green tones together are so lovely 🌿 Can you name all of these licensed William Morris designs? Which is your favourite? ✨ If you’d like a sample of any just let us know ☺️
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Functional + stylish, a tea towel thrown over the cooker or sink really does brighten up the kitchen - bringing some florals inside the home! ✨ This is our licensed William Morris Sweet Briar design, we absolutely love this delicate design with soft pink flowers 🌷
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A fabric stack full of William Morris licensed designs, which is your favourite? ✨
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Sitting at the table to admire our latest floral arrangement creation with a cuppa! ☕️ Don’t these colours look absolutely wonderful with our beautiful licensed William Morris design Compton 🧡
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Can’t forget your Strawberry Thief tote if you’re off to the shops! 🛍️
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