Morris & Co Wallpaper
Few wallpaper designs are as immediately recognisable as those associated with William Morris. Flowing leaves, flowers, birds and repeating forms appear throughout the Morris & Co. archive, often with enough detail to make a room interesting without relying on short-lived interior trends.
Morris & Co. grew from the company William Morris founded with fellow artists and designers in 1861. Its wallpapers became closely associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and with Morris's belief that objects made for the home should be both useful and beautiful. More than 160 years later, original archive designs are still being produced and reworked in new colours alongside later designs from Morris & Co.'s wider circle of artists. Morris & Co.
The result is a range that can work in very different homes. Some papers are rich, intricate and deliberately traditional; others use familiar Morris patterns in lighter or quieter colourways that are easier to use in a contemporary room.
Classic Morris & Co designs
Some patterns have remained popular for generations.
Strawberry Thief is probably the best known, with birds amongst curling foliage and fruit. It was inspired by the thrushes Morris saw stealing strawberries from the garden at his country home, Kelmscott Manor.
Willow Boughs is calmer and more fluid, built around overlapping willow leaves. Its repeating pattern makes it easier to use across a whole room than some of the larger, more elaborate designs.
Pimpernel uses large, curling flower heads and strong movement across the wall. It suits rooms where the wallpaper is intended to play a major part in the decoration rather than simply provide a background.
Golden Lily combines lilies, stems and smaller flowers in a dense botanical pattern, while Blackthorn brings together blossom, foliage and fruit in one of the richer designs associated with Morris & Co.
These remain part of the company’s current design vocabulary alongside newer interpretations and archive revivals.
Choosing a Morris wallpaper
Don’t assume that a Morris pattern necessarily means a dark Victorian room.
Colour makes an enormous difference. The same design can feel quite traditional in deep green, red or blue, but much lighter in a neutral, soft green or muted colourway. Morris & Co. continues to issue archive patterns in different palettes, so it is worth looking at several versions of a design before deciding that the pattern itself is too strong for your room. Morris & Co.
For a smaller room, cloakroom or reading corner, one of the more detailed patterns can work particularly well because the scale of the space allows you to be bolder. In a larger living or dining room, consider how the repeat looks across several walls rather than judging the wallpaper from a small image or sample.
Bedrooms often suit the softer botanical patterns and quieter colourways, while hallways and dining rooms can usually carry stronger colour and more elaborate designs.
If you are considering a botanical scheme more generally, our Botanical Wallpaper guide has more ideas on pattern, scale and colour.
Samples are worth ordering
Morris wallpapers can contain several colours within what first appears to be a fairly simple pattern. Screen colour is also a poor guide to how a paper will react to daylight, lamps and the other colours already in a room.
For that reason, we would always suggest seeing a sample before ordering several rolls, particularly with one of the larger or darker Morris designs.
Browse Morris & Co wallpaper
Explore the Morris & Co. wallpapers below. As Wallpapers.co.uk develops, we intend to show designs from a wider range of UK retailers, making it easier to find a particular pattern and compare where it is available.