The National Trust Celebrates 50 Years at Standen House with Morris & Co. Makeover
In 2022, The National Trust is celebrating 50 years of its custodianship of Standen House in West Sussex. Here at Morris & Co., we’re thrilled to be lending a hand with the celebrations. We’ve given two rooms in the historic house- a bedroom and the servant’s room- a true Morris & Co. makeover… with a 1970s twist.
The National Trust, established in 1895, was founded on beliefs very close to William Morris’s heart. The Trust’s founders, Octavia Hill and Sir Robert Hunter, were close associates of Morris through his own co-founding of the Commons Preservation Society (now Open Spaces Society) in 1865. The roots go deeper still. The architect of Standen House, one Philip Webb, also designed Morris’s own Red House in Bexleyheath, 1859, flying the flag for a new Arts & Crafts, medieval-inspired decorative movement.
Today, Standen houses one of the largest extant collections of Morris & Co. décor anywhere.
For the bedroom, we invite you to journey back to the 1970s… Beatlemania, psychedelia and the hippy counter-cultural revolution have caused interior design to fall head over heels with colour again.
It’s buoyancy and bonanza right across the palette in this fabulously eccentric room set. Lime greens and citrus yellows abound, taken from the rich new Cornubia Morris & Co. collection from Ben Pentreath. We particularly love the feature wall ornamented with Woodland Weeds wallpaper- bright evocations of springtime colours transform J.H. Dearle’s 1905 design into a sight for the senses. Topping off an unconventional theme, the line ‘Love Is Enough’, from William Morris’s 1868 poem of the same name, is emblazoned in neon pink above the headboard. A giddy rush of colour awaits.
For the Servant’s Room, it’s all about exploring and enjoying the legacy of Morris & Co. furnishings, whilst looking towards future manifestations. It’s a testament to William Morris and other Morris & Co. designers that his patterns have formed the basis of a language so readily renewable and rich in new possibilities, transformed again and again since 1861.
We’ve stuffed this room to the rafters with the very latest Morris & Co. collections, including wallpapers and fabrics from the Simply Morris collection. With cool base tones and a contemporary colour story, Simply Morris offers a lighter counterpoint to the fuller hues of 19th century Morris & Co. patterns. Photo-opportunities and spaces for relaxation make this space an elevated space of creativity, perfect for the avid Morris & Co. fan or the first-timer.
posted on 13 Jun 2022 in Interiors
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