PAST BLAST: William Morris, the 19th-century textile designer synonymous with the British Arts and Crafts movement, is making a comeback with the completion of more than 40 unfinished, archival works by a team of London-based artists.
“The Unfinished Works” collection was unveiled this week by Morris & Co. and the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in California, which purchased the William Morris archive in 1999.
After discovering 50 incomplete sketches shortly after the purchase, Huntington approached Morris & Co., which was founded by William Morris and is now owned by the Sanderson Design Group, to finish the job.
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Morris & Co.’s work involved researching the original inks, fabrics, papers and stained glass that Morris and his creative director John Dearle created in nearly two decades of collaboration.
The result is a collection of 42 dense, color-saturated botanical prints that appear across wallpapers, borders, fabrics, weaves and embroideries.
Morris & Co. said the team completed the pieces “with accuracy and attention to detail, honoring the original documents. Every design has been repainted in the studio.”
One of the designs, created by Dearle, is called Cornflower and features his signature vine-like style.
An inscription in the margin of the original archive document reads, “Will something like this do/ for the suggested staircase paper/ a la vine tapestry?/ H.D.”
The Morris & Co. team said the note signals “the wonderful artist-to-artist connection this collection embraces across the centuries. Cornflower is a celebration of florals, featuring tulips, acanthus, daisies and, of course, the cornflower itself.”
Jess Clayworth, lead designer of Morris & Co., said she hopes Morris and Dearle “would be proud that we’ve followed the design trail they set out, bringing these designs to life as a creative team spread over the centuries. The ‘Co.’ in Morris & Co. is alive and well in The Unfinished Works.”