William Morris designed wallpaper and textiles, not pictures. Yet his patterns — thrushes stealing strawberries, honeysuckle climbing through willow, tulips in a tight repeat — have become some of the most popular art prints there are. A Morris print gives a room what wallpaper gives it, on one wall, in a frame, without the commitment.
Who he was
Morris (1834–1896) was a designer, writer, poet and socialist, and the central figure of the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain. He was reacting against the cheap, machine-made goods of Victorian industry, and argued that everyday objects should be well made and beautiful. His most quoted line comes from a lecture in 1880: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
In 1861 he co-founded the decorating firm that became Morris & Co., which produced furniture, stained glass, tapestry, wallpaper and printed fabric. He designed around fifty wallpapers and many more textiles, most drawn from plants and birds he knew from his own gardens.
Strawberry Thief (1883), the most famous of them, shows the thrushes that raided the fruit at his country house, Kelmscott Manor. It was printed by a slow indigo-discharge process at his Merton Abbey works, and was one of the firm's most expensive fabrics at the time. It is still in production today.
Morris died in 1896, so his designs have long been in the public domain. Our William Morris collection includes the classic patterns as well as exhibition-style posters built around them.
Strawberry Thief - William Morris
William Morris - Pink Exhibition Poster
William Morris - Jasmine Poster
William Morris Birds Poster
William Morris - Honeysuckle Poster
William Morris Tulips Poster
Where a Morris print works
Bedrooms. The patterns are dense but calm, and the colours — indigo, sage, rust, cream — belong to the bedroom's quieter palette. A single 50×70 above a headboard is one of the easiest ways to make a plain bedroom feel finished. See posters for the bedroom.
Hallways and staircases. A pattern has no top or focal point, so it reads fine when you pass it at an angle. Two or three smaller prints up a stair work well.
Kitchens and dining rooms. Fruit, birds and flowers are at home next to food, and the older colours sit well with wood and ceramics.
Sizes
| Use | Size | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Single statement print | 50×70 or 70×100 | Large enough to show the repeat |
| Pair or trio | 30×42 | Mix two patterns with one shared colour |
| Gallery wall anchor | 50×70 | Surround with plain botanical prints |
The one mistake to avoid is going very small. At A4, a detailed repeat turns into texture and you lose the birds and flowers that make it Morris.
Frames and pairing
Morris prints suit wood. Oak keeps them light; a dark brown frame gives them the weight of a Victorian interior, which can be lovely in a room with older furniture. Black is fine in a modern setting but makes the prints look more graphic than they are. A passepartout suits them well — a patterned print benefits from a plain border to rest the eye. The passepartout guide covers widths.
Do not put two busy patterns side by side without a gap in style between them. A Morris next to a simple vintage flower print or a plain botanical plate gives the eye somewhere to rest; a Morris next to another Morris in a different colourway can work, but only if they share one colour.