Timorous Beasties in debt to William Morris

Known for their modern take on Toile de Jouy, Timorous Beasties produce textile designs full of historical design references but twinned with a sharp use of colour and contemporary eye.

As part of their 25th year in textile design, Timorous Beasties are launching a new design trio 'in debt to the great master, William Morris'. There perhaps could not be a more appropriate time to be paying homage to Morris, one of the defining figures of Victorian England. As design technology and information economy are on the brink of an unknown future, Morris' 'renaissance' ethos and arts and crafts design seem particularly poignant: Jeremy Deller recently put him alongside Andy Warhol for a recent exhibition at Modern Art Oxford, whilst Yinka Shonibare MBE's current exhibition at the William Morris Gallery investigates what Morris' life and ethos mean to us today.  However, the poet, essayist, translator, novelist, medievalist, lecturer and political activist could not be a more appropriate muse for Timorous Beasties, as one of his main achievements was reviving British textile design and production, whilst his association with the arts and crafts movement seems particularly apt, given that the duo behind Timorous Beasties were both students at The Glasgow School of Art, an iconic Macintosh arts and crafts building. Furthermore, in the past Timorous Beastie's designs have been described as 'William Morris on acid'.