Honeysuckle pattern wallpaper by William Morris

Morris & Co

Morris had radical ambitions to revolutionise the design industry

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Morris had radical ambitions to revolutionise the design industry and influence taste. Joined by a group of dedicated designers and friends, Morris set up a decorating business, ‘The Firm,’ founded on the use of quality materials and designs led by famous artists of the day.

Morris & Co designed for a wide variety of clients. In this space you can explore the full range of their products, including lavish items such as stained glass for churches, furnishing fabrics for wealthy industrialists and a wallpaper designed for Queen Victoria. You can also browse some of the more affordable items, such as the best-selling ‘Sussex’ chair, that were available off the shelf from a shop on Oxford Street, London.

With a range of The Firm’s marketing materials on display, why not try running Morris & Co yourself in our interactive game?

Morris & Co armchair with upholstered and padded armrests and seat cover.

Gallery highlights

Sussex Armchair, 1869-1920s
Sussex Armchair, 1869-1920s
'Honeysuckle' wallpaper, 1883
'Honeysuckle' wallpaper, 1883
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Sussex Armchair, 1869-1920s

This armchair is part of the popular Morris & Co. ‘Sussex’ range which also included a settle, corner chairs and single chairs (without arms). The range was made and sold from 1869 until the 1920s and was inspired by a late-Georgian country chair found in Sussex. The chairs were most likely designed by Philip Webb. As well as being commercially successful, the chairs were also used by partners of Morris & Co. in their own homes. William and Jane Morris kept a set of ‘Sussex’ chairs in their first family home, Red House, and in their final London home, Kelmscott House in Hammersmith. Edward Burne-Jones also used ‘Sussex’ chairs in his garden studio at The Grange, Fulham.

'Honeysuckle' wallpaper, 1883

May Morris, William’s younger daughter, designed three wallpapers during her first three years working for Morris & Co. ‘Honeysuckle’ was her most popular and enduring pattern and its light and cheerful design proved very successful for the firm. The design is based on a net structure of untamed woody stems, small curling leaves in two tones and honeysuckle flowers set against a plain background and was printed in four colourways. There has been debate over who originally designed ‘Honeysuckle’, with some arguing that May’s father, William Morris was in fact the chief designer of the wallpaper, having been credited with its creation in a 1890 article by ‘The Woman’s World’. However, it was not unusual at this time for the designs of both May and Henry Dearle, Morris & Co. 's chief designer, to be credited to the firm’s more famous owner. The design was attributed to May for the first time in the Morris & Co. wallpaper catalogue from around 1909, twenty years after ‘The Woman’s World’ article was published. The original design, now in the collection of the William Morris Society, provides few clues to help clear up this debate. The paper is watermarked ‘J Whatman 1879’ and shows soft pencil outlines filled with watercolour. Annotated instructions reveal eight woodblocks were required to achieve the finished pattern, which was numbered 6575. On the reverse is written ‘Mr. Morris Esq’ and the address of Merton Abbey. The design is heavily worked over in parts, suggesting that if May was the main designer, as a novice she may have sought extra help, possibly from her father, to complete it. Although May was no longer involved with the company by the time the design was attributed to her, given her role in fortifying William Morris’s legacy it would seem unlikely that if indeed her father was the designer, she would have allowed such a public misattribution. Finally, given the popularity of the pattern, it is notably missing from May’s 1936 book 'William Morris. Artist, Writer, Socialist' in which she lists her father’s forty most successful wallpaper designs, providing a further clue that May was indeed the main designer.

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