The Trellis Design

# The Trellis is probably one of William Morris’s first wallpaper designs. # It was inspired by the trellises in the gardens of his home called Red House, in Bexley Heath. # The trellis design has a mediaeval character, meaning that the designs and patterns are drawn in a more simple style than was fashionable at the time, very similar to woodcut images found in 16th and 17th century ‘herbals.’ Herbals are books with illustrations and descriptions of plants. William collected and studied a lot of these books. # The image of the climbing roses and their sharp thorns show the close relationship between beauty and danger in the natural world. # If you look closely at the design above, you can see the mayflies Morris has included. These represent change and the fleeting nature of life. # The birds give the design energy and vitality. William had problems drawing and designing birds and asked his friend, the designer Philip Webb to draw them for this design and many of his other works. # Although William went on to design and produce many more wallpapers that were more popular, the trellis remained his personal favourite. He even used it to decorate his own bedroom in his house Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, West London, where he lived for the last 18 years of his life.