Portal:Clothing/Selected biography/11

William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement.

Born at Walthamstow near London, Morris was educated at Oxford University, where he met his life-long friend and collaborator, the artist Edward Burne-Jones. In 1856, Morris became an apprentice to Gothic revival architect G. E. Street. That same year he founded the "Oxford and Cambridge Magazine", an outlet for his poetry and a forum for development of his theories of hand-craftsmanship in the decorative arts. In 1861, Morris founded a design firm in partnership with Burne-Jones, the architect Philip Webb and the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti which had a profound impact on the decoration of churches and houses into the early 20th century. Morris's chief contribution was as a designer of repeating patterns for wallpapers and textiles, many based on a close observation of nature. Morris was also responsible for the resurgence of traditional textile arts and methods of production.