Daisy
Designer William Morris British
Manufacturer Morris & Company
Printer Jeffrey & Co. British
Not on view
William Morris designed forty-one wallpapers and five ceiling papers, working from 1862 with Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company and from 1875 with Morris & Company. "Daisy" was his second design, but the first pattern the company produced. Small light red and brown flowers are supported by green leaves, forming a repeating pattern against a cream ground. The artist was influenced by medieval "millefleurs" tapestries, early printed herbals, and a textile he found in an illuminated copy of Froissart's "Chronicles." He also looked closely at native flowers. A belief in beauty, imagination, and order shaped Morris's wallpapers. Their commercial success raised the standards of British wallpaper design and production in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.