William Morris

William Morris (1834-1896), an Englishman of distant Welsh origins, was a writer, a businessman, a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement, and an early socialist. As a writer, he produced poetry, translations of Nordic literature, historical and fantasy novels, and socialist propaganda, which included journalism, pamphleteering, verse, and a novel.

His business, Morris & Co, produced individually crafted furniture, stained glass, carpets, tapestries, and wallpaper, using techniques he had mastered himself, design being shared with a small group of others. It won contracts for the complete fitting out of rooms and even buildings, as well as making retail sales through a shop in Oxford Street, London. He also founded the Kelmscott Press. Both these enterprises were perfectionist and elitist in nature. He recognised that the elitism was contrary to his principles, but defended himself on the grounds that the revolution could not come immediately. The perfectionism was one of the guiding inspirations of the Arts and Crafts movement.