Morris & Co.

Arts and Crafts leader William Morris was one of many English architects, botanists, and fine artists who worked in the applied arts of textile design and manufacture in the mid-19th century. He excelled at rendering botanical subjects with a vigor and passion equal to his talent for creating repeated pattern. Design is only one of his lasting legacies; with Thomas Wardle of Leek, he spent years researching ancient dye and print manuals and experimenting with plant dyes. Morris would have likely used the roots of a walnut tree and husks of the nut for the brown dye used in this piece.