The Friday gem this week comes from the Associated Design Records of the Stoddard Templeton Collection, and is a selection of hand printed wallpapers created by Sanderson (STOD/201/1/11/3). They were found along with a couple of original sketches in amongst a large collection of fabric samples, all of which appear to have been used by the designers employed by Stoddard and Templeton for reference and inspiration.
In 2010 Sanderson celebrated its 150th anniversary and as such is the oldest surviving British manufacturer of wallpapers and decorative fabrics. Since its foundation the company has been at the vanguard of every significant design movement in European decorative arts, and thus has forged partnerships and associations with influential artists and designers, including both Silver Studio and C.F.A. Voysey, amongst others.
Two of the hand printed wallpaper samples in the Stoddard Templeton Collection were originally designed by William Morris (1834-1896), the English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist, who is widely acknowledged as the father of the Arts & Crafts movement.
Morris established the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co in 1861, which worked to re-establish the value of hand crafted work in the industrial 19th century, producing high quality decorative work on a commercial basis. The company was reorganized in 1874 becoming Morris & Co.
Fruit (also known as Pomegranate), was designed circa 1865 and originally manufactured by Jeffrey & Co. This was one of Morris’s first wallpaper designs and has been described as showing the influence of his work in tiles. The second is Morris’s Chrysanthemum, originally produced circa 1877.
Both of these samples are hand printed from wooden blocks and carry an inscription on the back in ink with their title, number and price. These patterns are characterized by naturalism and clearly articulated pattern repeats. Furthermore, like many of Morris’s wallpaper designs, they have remained in production for over a century. The two pieces in the Stoddard Templeton Collection date from the mid-twentieth century, being clearly marked as Sanderson Wallpapers.
Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd were first commissioned to produce wallpapers for Morris and Co in 1930. In 1940, when Morris and Co went into liquidation, Sanderson bought from the receiver the wallpaper blocks and pattern books which were already in their possession and have continued, ever since, to block-print Morris wallpapers by hand in the traditional manner.
The hand printed Sanderson wallpaper below, entitled ‘Indian‘, is assumed to have been originally designed by George Gilbert Scott circa 1868, and published by Morris & Co.
The source of this pattern was described in 1884 as an ‘early 18th-century’ wallpaper. This was in turn based on an Indian chintz…. A letter from Morris’s business manager suggests that this paper was the work of the architect George Gilbert Scott (1839-1897). In 1874 Scott was one of the founders of Watts & Co, a company which issued some wallpapers in a similar style.
James Templeton & Co collected these items along with other wallpaper samples, fabric swatches, carpets, photographs, published designs, and original sketches, for a period of over 100 years. Thus tracking various design movements in order to allow their designers to create carpets to match the interior design trends of the day. The Stoddard Templeton Design Archive thus presents a broad and informative picture of design from the middle of the 19th century right up to the close of the 20th century.
For more information on the Stoddard-Templeton Collection click here, or visit the project blog.
Categories: Archive Services (GUAS)
Tags: archive services, Arthur Sanderson & Co., Arts and Crafts, Carpet design, design, design sketches;, designer, george gilbert scott, GUAS, hand printed, James Templeton & Co., Morris & Co., Sanderson, Stoddard, Stoddard-Templeton Design Archive;, Templeton, Wallpaper, William Morris
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