William Morris Society Hosts Summer Family Workshops in August

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Children can learn to weave, decorate glass jars and make badges and brooches

The William Morris Society is hosting a series of events in August, including an Arts & Crafts Textiles Tour followed by a series of Summer Family Workshops.

Here's what's scheduled this month:

Tuesday 6 August, 10.30am - 1pm - Arts & Crafts Textiles Tour at The William Morris Society at 26 Upper Mall and Emery Walker's House at 7 Hammersmith Terrace.

An opportunity to get up close to items that are rarely on show to the public with a specialist tour of both the Society’s premises and nearby Emery Walker’s House. The tour will explore the Arts & Crafts textiles in both collections, including exquisite examples of May Morris’s work.

​The tour will start at the William Morris Society, where you will be led by textiles and embroidery expert Sally Roberson. It will begin with an introduction to the William Morris Society’s textile collection, followed by tea/coffee and biscuits.

A short walk along the river will then take the group to Emery Walker’s House (7 Hammersmith Terrace) where you will be able to view and hear about the textiles in situ at this recently restored Arts & Crafts gem. Due to space constraints at Emery Walker’s House, places are strictly limited to 8 per tour.

Tickets priced £35 can be booked here.

Wednesday 7 August, 10.30am - 1pm, Badges and Brooches: Summer Family Workshop

Create badges and brooches using modelling clay, inspired by the designs of William Morris and his daughter May. All materials are provided, and you will take your creations home with you!

Refreshments (orange squash and biscuits) provided. Suitable for children age six -12. Children under eight must be accompanied by an adult.

Tickets, priced £6.43.

Wednesday 14 August, 10.30am - 1pm, Glasses and Tiles: Summer Family Workshop

Learn how to decorate glass jars and tiles!

Decorate a glass jar using our special glass paints, then create a beautiful design on a ceramic tile inspired by the designs in Kelmscott House.

All materials are provided, and you will take your creations home with you. Refreshments (orange squash and biscuits) provided. Suitable for children age six -12. Children under eight must be accompanied by an adult.

Tickets priced £6.43 can be booked here.

Wednesday 21 August, 10.30am - 1pm, Weaving: Summer Family Workshop

Use the society's new weaving looms and a variety of yarns to create a placemat or bookmarks. Find out how to turn coloured paper into a design inspired by William Morris.

All materials are provided, and you will take your creations home with you. Refreshments (orange squash and biscuits) provided. Suitable for children age six -12. Children under eight must be accompanied by an adult.

Tickets priced £6.43 can be booked here

'The dear warp and weft at Hammersmith': A History of Kelmscott House, The William Morris Society's latest exhibition, also continues in August, featuring original Morris & Co. designs, textiles and wallpapers, complemented by beautiful photographic prints.

Kelmscott House was the beloved home of Victorian designer, poet, writer and socialist William Morris and his family for the last 18 years of his life.

William Morris

In the first exhibition of its kind about one of the most significant homes in the history of British interior design, The William Morris Society faithfully conveys the atmosphere of a house bursting with creative energy and artistic activity.

Hammersmith residents who inhabited the house before and after Morris are featured including poet and novelist George MacDonald, Sir Francis Ronalds, who invented the electric telegraph and actress Athene Seyler.

William Morris reported to his wife Jane that he had found a house in London that 'might be made very beautiful with a touch of my art' when he leased Kelmscott House in 1878. It was here that he began carpet weaving, wove his first tapestry and continued his innovating approach to design.

When away from the house, Morris longed to return to these practical crafts, writing: "Lord bless us how nice it will be when I can get back to my little patterns and dyeing and the dear warp and weft at Hammersmith" – warp and weft being weaving terms.

Many well-known Morris & Co. designs are associated with the house. In 1878 Morris designed the Bird woven wool textile to hang in the drawing room of the property and Peacock and Dragon curtains adorned the room. Pimpernel wallpaper hung in the dining room and Trellis in Morris’s ground floor bedroom.

Morris established the Hammersmith branch of the Socialist League in the Coach House of the property and in 1891 he set up the Kelmscott Press, his private printing press, a few doors away.

'The dear warp and weft at Hammersmith' is open Thursday and Saturdays, from 2pm till 5pm until Saturday 26 October at the Coach House, Kelmscott House, 26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith. Admission to the exhibition is free.

August 1, 2019