William Morris's interests were wide-ranging: he was a poet, writer, political and social activist, conservationist and businessman, as well as a brilliant and original designer and manufacturer. This book explores the balance between Morris's various spheres of activity and influence, places his art in the context of its time and explores his ongoing and far-reaching legacy. A pioneer of the Arts & Crafts Movement, William Morris (1834-1896) is one of the most influential designers of all time. Morris turned the tide of Victorian England against an increasingly industrialized manufacturing process towards a rediscovered respect for the skill of the maker. Morris's whole approach still resonates today, and his designs are popular and much admired. Published to mark the 125th anniversary of Morris's death, this book includes contributions from a wide range of Morris experts, with chapters on painting, church decoration and stained glass, interior decoration, furniture, tiles and tableware, wallpaper, textiles, calligraphy and publishing. Additional materials include a contextualized chronology of Morris's life and a list of public collections around the world where examples of Morris's work may be seen today. This study is a comprehensive, fully illustrated exploration of a great thinker and artist, and essential reading for anyone interested in the history of design. With 668 illustrations in colour

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857-1941) is, with William Morris, one of the most enduringly popular designers of the Arts & Crafts Movement. A practising architect, Voysey also designed a broad range of applied arts objects, from furniture, ceramics, and metalwork to wallpaper, carpets, tiles, and fabrics. His pattern designs, created from the 1880s to the early 1930s, are among his best-known works today. His wallpaper and textile designs are characterized by simple, stylized, rhythmic patterns that base their motifs on forms found in the natural world. Plants abound, but so too do birds and animals, represented as silhouettes or in soft pastel shades. This elegant, accessibly priced volume offers a wealth of colourful designs by Voysey in which birds and animals are the principal motifs. Written by Karen Livingstone, a published expert on Voysey and the Arts & Crafts Movement, this book brings together not only completed patterns but also working drawings in pencil and watercolour. Voysey's Birds and Animals will both inform and delight, appealing to a broad readership of museum visitors and lovers of art and design.

C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941) was an architect-designer who advocated honest and thorough design, and championed high standards of craftsmanship applied only to the finest materials. The resulting objects-simple yet elegant, often enhanced by beautiful and symbolic decoration-were considered revolutionary in their time and continue to enchant audiences today. The first substantial monograph to be published in 20 years, this comprehensive book focuses on Voysey as a designer of furniture, metalwork and textiles, providing a new analysis of his characteristic motifs and designs. It draws on the greatest public and private collections of his work to give a complete and fully illustrated account of Voysey's output and his vision for domestic life at the turn of the twentieth century. Original drawings and plans, archive photography and images of a vast selection of surviving objects are brought together here in a fresh examination of the Arts and Crafts pioneer. The authors' extensive new research documents the personal and professional relationships that enabled Voysey to become a great and prolific designer. The book draws together new information on how he ran his business; how he promoted, exhibited and sold his work; who his clients were; who was responsible for manufacturing his designs; and what a Voysey house and interior looked like.

The Arts and Crafts movement revolutionised attitudes to work and the home and laid the foundations for a radical shift in approach to design and lifestyle in the early twentieth century. From the pioneering example of William Morris and the writings of John Ruskin, to a new generation of architects, artists, designers and patrons, the movement championed a unity of the arts and was broadly defined by the common aims of social and industrial reform, the revival of handicrafts, a return to the simple life, and the improvement of art for everyday life. It was the first major art movement to focus on the decorative arts but it flung its net much wider, drawing architecture, garden design, photography and graphics into its orbit and changing the way we think about design. Leading scholars in the field explore the the regional, national and international manifestations of Arts and Crafts, looking at the work of many leading designers - including Walter Crane, C.F.A. Voysey, M.H. Baillie Scott, C.R. Mackintosh in Britain, Josef Hoffmann, Georg Jensen, Gustav Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright in Europe and America and Hamada Shoji and Bernard Leach in Japan. Lavishly illustrated and extensively researched, this book is a major contribution to a wider understanding of Arts and Crafts and an invaluable visual record of an ever-popular era of design.

The Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the most far-reaching and influential design movements of modern times. Arts and Crafts designers everywhere were inspired by a profound belief in social and industrial reform, the revival of handicrafts, a return to the simple life, and the improvement of art for everyday life.
This attractive small-format book introduces the key characteristics of the movement in Britain, Europe, America, and Japan and shows how its ideas were disseminated around the world. Through images of some of the most innovative and appealing works by Arts and Crafts designers, from furniture and painting to textiles and jewelry, this indispensable introduction redefines and enlarges our understanding of this seminal movement.