The Arts and Crafts movement grew out of the reaction against 19th century industrialization and the decline in quality resulting from mass-production. The movement was a British phenomenon. The movement is one of the most vital, exciting and inspiring chapters in the history of the decorative arts. This movement started when two men, William Morris and John Ruskin, took their strong ideas against industrialization to the next level. The mechanized process threatened handcrafts and resulted in cheapened, monotonous merchandise. In 1861 William Morris founded one of the first companies devoted to providing simple handcrafted furniture; other craftsmen followed, and the movement took its name from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. .
William Morris was born in Walthamstow, Essex, on March 24, 1834. He was educated at the University of Oxford and briefly apprenticed to an architect. He was one of the founders of the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine in 1857. The magazine endured for only one year, but through it Morris became friendly with the English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In 1858 his Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems was published, and although it attracted almost no attention at the time, it has since become regarded as a minor classic of Victorian poetry. Except for these literary endeavors, Morris devoted most of his time to architecture and painting. In 1861 he formed a decorating firm in partnership with Rossetti, the painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones and other Pre-Raphaelite painters. The firm designed and manufactured decorations such as carvings, metalwork, stained glass, and carpeting. These products were noted for their fine workmanship and natural beauty, and directly inspired the Arts and Crafts movement, which sought to reinvest everyday objects with these qualities. The influence of this movement extended throughout Europe and the United States for generations, and fathered the art nouveau style.
