Drawn From Nature

A new exhibition at Standen House looks at how its Morris & Co designs were inspired by its surrounding natural environment.

- Duncan Hall

Today William Morris’ statement that you should “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” has become the mantra of the decluttering movement. But his longest legacy has been his beautiful design work and use of patterns based on natural forms, which are found today on feature walls, diaries, calendars and cushions across the country.

One Sussex home which took the designs of his company Morris & Co to heart was Standen, near East Grinstead. It was designed in the late 19th century by Morris’ old friend Philip Webb and featured Morris & Co wallpapers from the family bedrooms to the servants’ quarters.

In recognition of the role the design company played in the house, Standen is launching a new exhibition Morris & Co: Inspired by Nature which links the natural beauty of the gardens with the nature-inspired designs inside. “In the past, we’ve had exhibitions in the house but we haven’t always looked to the garden,” says Dr. Alice Strickland, curator at the National Trust. “This was an opportunity to work with head gardener James Masters, who has been wonderful about making sure those plants Webb looked at were planted. There will be 52 plants which Morris wrote about, which will all be in the garden, and there will be labels with quotes from Morris.” Additions will be a dying bed in the kitchen garden, growing plants which can then be used in a dyers, spinners and weavers weekend on 10 and 11 August. And an orange tree has been added to the garden so it contains all 13 trees Morris writes about in his poem Tapestry Trees.

Many of the rooms will be decorated with cut flowers from the garden to compliment the naturally inspired schemes within, and James has also added his own touches such as planting sunflowers outside the drawing room to match the sunflower theme inside.