Morris & Co Wallpaper

Morris & Co Wallpaper

William Morris founded the firm that became Morris & Co in 1861, on the then radical idea that things should be made properly and that beauty belonged in every home. A keen gardener, he drew his patterns from life: Strawberry Thief came from watching thrushes raid the fruit in his kitchen garden at Kelmscott Manor. That rootedness in the natural world is why the designs have never looked dated, and since 1940 the archive has been cared for by Sanderson.

The newest collection is Colours of Morris, in which the studio went back through the archive for unseen pigments and recoloured favourites from Willow Boughs to Strawberry Thief. The Unfinished Works, made with The Huntington in California, brings rare and incomplete sketches by Morris and John Henry Dearle to life for the first time, and Melsetter celebrates the designs of his daughter, May Morris.

For the classics, the Archive and Archive II collections present authentic versions of Morris's original papers, while Archive IV The Collector draws on his hand-knotted carpets and the interiors of Standen and Wightwick Manor. Compilation and Compendium I & II gather the best loved prints, Golden Lily, Pimpernel and Willow Bough among them, and Morris & Friends adds designs by J.H. Dearle, May Morris and others from the firm's circle.

If you love the patterns but prefer a calmer room, Pure and Pure Morris North present them in a pared-back, neutral palette, and Simply Morris recolours the icons in fresh shades. Emery Walker's House and Bedford Park complete the range.

Read more in our guides, William Morris: The Revolutionary Who Wallpapered Britain's Drawing Rooms and Colours of Morris: Morris & Co's Archive, Recoloured, and finish the room with Morris & Co fabric.