The Arts & Crafts movement is interesting because it was
both an artistic and a social movement.
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| William Morris photographed by Fredrick Hollyer 1887 |
Coinciding with, or rather reacting to the industrial
revolution, the designer and socialist William Morris created a movement
founded in the belief that industry dehumanized men and removed their
creativity. Revolting agains
technology and the machine age, he advocated returning to a more holistic way
of creation, by forming Medieval type guilds.
In this philosophical spirit, he advocated hand made jewelry
that was created by one designer from start to finish. He emphasized the beauty of design over
the wealth of the materials and chose to find beauty in imperfection.
In this artistic spirit he drew inspiration from nature—creating
pieces natural, abstract and sometimes symbolic. Eschewing diamonds and rubies, he mounted lapis, turquoise,
moonstone, carnelian, blister pearls, amethyst, peridot, malachite, opal and
ivory in silver, copper and brass.
Enameling was also very popular.
Like most movements, it could not remain entirely
uncommercial. Liberty, a London
shop, commissioned designers to create beautiful pieces in the Arts &
Crafts style with an emphasis on design rather than material. These pieces were made by machine and
finished by hand. All our stamped
with the name Liberty, and though not as authentic to the original ethos of the
Arts & Crafts movement, they are, still, fantastically beautiful works of
art.
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