Editing Arts and Crafts movement (section)

===William Morris===
[[File: William Morris age 53.jpg|thumb|upright|William Morris, a textile designer who was a key influence on the Arts and Crafts movement]]
[[William Morris]] (1834–1896) was the towering figure in late 19th-century design and the main influence on the Arts and Crafts movement. The aesthetic and social vision of the movement grew out of ideas that he developed in the 1850s with the [[Birmingham Set]] – a group of students at the [[University of Oxford]] including [[Edward Burne-Jones]], who combined a love of [[Romantic literature]] with a commitment to social reform.{{sfn|Naylor|1971|pp=96–97}} [[John William Mackail]] notes that, for the Set, "Carlyle's ''[[Past and Present (book)|Past and Present]]'' stood alongside of [Ruskin's] ''[[Modern Painters]]'' as inspired and absolute truth."<ref>Mackail, J. W. (2011). ''The Life of William Morris''. New York: Dover Publications. p. 38. {{ISBN|978-0-486-28793-5}}.</ref> The medievalism of [[Thomas Malory|Malory]]'s ''[[Morte d'Arthur]]'' set the standard for their early style.{{sfn|Wildman|1998|p=49}} In Burne-Jones' words, they intended to "wage Holy warfare against the age".{{sfn|Naylor|1971|p=97}}

[[File:Philip Webb's Red House in Upton.jpg|thumb|William Morris's [[Red House, Bexleyheath|Red House]] in Bexleyheath, designed by Philip Webb and completed in 1860; one of the most significant buildings of the Arts and Crafts movement<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/red-house#Overview| title = National Trust, "Iconic Arts and Crafts home of William Morris"}}</ref>]]

Morris began experimenting with various crafts and designing furniture and interiors.{{sfn|MacCarthy|2009}} He was personally involved in manufacture as well as design,{{sfn|MacCarthy|2009}} which was the hallmark of the Arts and Crafts movement. Ruskin had argued that the separation of the intellectual act of design from the manual act of physical creation was both socially and aesthetically damaging. Morris further developed this idea, insisting that no work should be carried out in his workshops before he had personally mastered the appropriate techniques and materials, arguing that "without dignified, creative human occupation people became disconnected from life".{{sfn|MacCarthy|2009}}

[[File: Morris and Company Weaving at Merton Abbey.jpg|thumb|The weaving shed in Morris & Co's factory at [[Merton, London (parish)|Merton]], which opened in the 1880s]]

In 1861, Morris began making furniture and decorative objects commercially, modelling his designs on medieval styles and using bold forms and strong colours. His patterns were based on flora and fauna, and his products were inspired by the vernacular or domestic traditions of the British countryside. Some were deliberately left unfinished in order to display the beauty of the materials and the work of the craftsman, thus creating a rustic appearance. Morris strove to unite all the arts within the decoration of the home, emphasizing nature and simplicity of form.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acam/hd_acam.htm|title=The Arts and Crafts Movement in America|date=2019|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref>