William Morris, the world renowned designer and socialist, lived and worked in Hammersmith from 1879-1896. The proposal is to create a ceramic tile mural to be mounted on the road side of the river wall on the Upper Mall across from William Morris’ home, Kelmscott House.
Inspired by his iconic designs, the tiles will illustrate the journey along the Thames to Oxford. This journey inspired his utopian novel ‘News from Nowhere’ in 1890, it includes every lock along the river to Lechlade and the entertaining notes kept by the party in August 1880. It will introduce William Morris, designer, craftsman, poet and socialist, to a new generation of people walking along the river.
The mural will be 1mt high and 11.3mts long, made up of 518 tiles. The 48 tiles of the ‘Departure’ & ‘Arrival’ story have been completed.
The mural will be framed with a Morris designed border. The title and notes will be using the Dove type font designed by Emery Walker for the Dove Press, another significant contributor to the Arts and Crafts Movement based in Hammersmith.
The mural will be installed on the Thames river wall at Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London W6 9TA