The Arts and Crafts Movement

Short Introduction

The Arts & Crafts Movement was one of the most influential movements. It emerged in Britain circa 1880, and then it spread through Europe, America, Japan, etc. It was a start of new ideas.
Some of the characteristics of this movement are; spiritual harmony, honest, simplicity, fidelity to function, national pride, regionalism and individualism. Important persons of this movement were William Morris and John Ruskin. Products of the arts and crafts are normally done by hand. So the arts and crafts movement was a good change in the working conditions for some people as the craftsmanship was given a boost.This movement was focused to produce these following; furniture, textiles, glass/stained glass, wallpaper, pottery, metal objects, interiors and little architecture.

William Morris

William Morris was the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement. Morris was a textile designer, artist, writer and a socialist from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was also trained as an architect and studied theology at Oxford. His dedication was mostly towards patterns and motifs on wallpaper, which made him popular. During the industrial revolution, as mentioned in a previous blog, workers were treated badly and with cheap wages. Therefore Morris wanted to change this; he also didn’t actually like the idea of everything being mass-produced, which as a result the products were insignificant and of no value of art or design.  Some of his inspirations were from John Ruskin’s and from The Pre-Raphaelites. Also he was inspired by nature as could be seen on the wallpapers of leaf motifs he creates. One of his very first projects was the Red House in Bexleyheath, which was previously designed by Philip Webb and then furnished by him and his colleagues. Meanwhile he started his own business which was called Morris & Co., and it's still running as retail company.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

― William Morris

Wallpaper design by William Morris

Red House 1859

This house was very important for the Arts and Crafts movement and was one of the very first projects for William Morris. It was also very influential for the next half century. It was built and designed specifically for William Morris which was furnished by himself and his colleagues and designed by his friend Philip Webb. The principles of the house’s design were focused on the family’s needs, so it was designed functional and aesthetically pleasing. This house included; Pre-Raphaelite style embroideries/fabric, murals, wallpapers, painted furniture and stained glass. This project of Morris’s house helped him to start off and improve his designs. 

This house is designed in a very simple way, no excessive decorations such as arches, curvatures, etc. were included. It looks as if it's a normal house from the interior and exterior. Obviously, most of the walls are covered in wallpapers, created by Morris himself, this gives a slight difference to the house at that time, while it gives a good use of function when it comes to design in furniture.

Red House - Exterior

Red House - Interior

Red House - Interior - Entrance Hall

References:

Cumming E. and Kaplan W., 2002. The Arts and Crafts Movement. London: Thames & Hudson.

Hauffe, T., 1998, Design A Concise History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Fiell C. and Fiell P., 2015. Design of the 20th Century. Köln: Taschen.

Ireland J., 2009. History of Interior Deisgn. America: Fairchild Publications.

Victoria and Albert Museum, n.d., The Arts & Crafts Movement [online] Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-arts-and-crafts-movement/ [Accessed 27 April 2016]