Frederick Etchells Rug Design

Illustration: Frederick Etchells. Rug design, 1913.

The English artist, architect and writer Frederick Etchells is probably best known for his association with Roger Fry and the Omega Workshops project, as well as his translation of Le Corbusier's seminal works on modern architecture into English. While the two may at first not automatically seem to be related, the Omega Workshops and Le Corbusier were important elements in the founding of the intrinsic style of art, architecture and design, and the direction that that style would take over much of the twentieth century.

Etchells himself became involved in the Omega Workshops project through his personal friendship with Roger Fry. Etchells produced the rug design shown here for the Omega Workshops in 1913. The design itself immediately shows the designers architectural credentials and training. While the composition is somewhat different to work produced by various Omega artists and designers in other mediums, particularly that of ceramics, furniture and textiles, much of the rug design work produced by the Workshops through various artists and designers such as Duncan Grant, Roald Kristian, Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry himself, closely follows a particular style with compositions following and interpreting the shape of the rug. Therefore, as in the case of Etchells, the rug dimensions are used as a guide for the rest of the composition. This led inevitably to a number of pieces, though by no means all, using hard edged verticals and horizontals. It is interesting to note that Etchells himself in this particular rug design overlaid the emphasis of the grid with a series of diamonds at deliberate odds with the vertical and horizontal background emphasis of the rug.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence for a colour photo of Etchells rug design and so we are therefore left with only a contemporary black and white version and can only guess at its true dimensions colour wise.

By the beginning of the 1920s, Etchells had decided to leave art and design behind him and concentrate full time on architectural pursuits. However, the small part of his career that he dedicated to his friend Roger Fry and his experimental Omega Workshops project, gives us an insight as to the dynamism that was becoming such an important element of the English decorative arts scene just on the eve of the First World War.

It is often thought and indeed regularly portrayed, that England in the last years before the war was one of an endless elegant Edwardian late summer. However, it is much more realistic to see, at least in the world of art, design and craft, that England during this period, rather than asleep, was a culture that was exploring a whole range of often imported ideas and theories that was to irrevocably change both the arts and society in such a fundamental way that the First World War in some respects, was the catalyst that was to put these ideas and theories into practise. England in the years following the war was to be a very different one than that in which Etchells designed this rug.

Further reading links:
Towards a New Architecture. Translated from the French by Frederick Etchells.
The City of Tomorrow and It's Planning. Translated from the 8th French Edition of Urbanisme with an Introduction by Frederick Etchells
Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of The Omega Workshops
The Omega Workshops
Omega Workshops, 1913-19
The Omega Workshops: Alliance and enmity in English art, 1911-1920 : Anthony d'Offay Gallery
Omega Cuts: Woodcuts and Linocuts by Artists Associated with the Omega Workshops and the Hogarth Press
Omega Workshops
The Omega Workshops: Alliance and Enmity in English Art, 1911-1920
A Roger Fry Reader
Art Deco and Modernist Carpets

William Morris and Carpet Reform

Illustration: William Morris. Bullerswood, 1889.

William Morris and his company are probably primarily known for their textiles and wallpapers. However, some of the most stunning design work to come out of Morris & Co has to be from some of the large, luxurious carpets that were produced mostly during Morris lifetime.

Many of the designs were influenced by traditional carpeting designs from around the world. There are constant flower and wildlife images that are recognisably linked with the native Persian carpet industry for example, of which Morris was a particularly keen and avid fan.

Morris was also committed, as were many leading designers of the mid-nineteenth century, into producing design work that was basically graphic in nature, as opposed to that of the three-dimensional qualities that were commonplace amongst the more fashionable designs of the period, two examples of which are shown below.

Illustration: Carpet design, 1840s.

These extremely popular carpet designs were produced for both effect and status. Carpet manufacturers had seen a large increase in their market with the expansion of the nineteenth century middle class. This class had only recently started to expand in numbers and many were still unfamiliar as to role that their heightened position in society had given them. Many were keen to portray their new wealth and status by procuring instant possessions; unfortunately, the more ostentatious and glaring these possessions were, the better they were often deemed to be.

Illustration: William Morris, 1857.

Morris was convinced that a flat, graphic quality to the design, particularly with regard to textiles, was more fitting to the flat nature of the medium. He saw no real gain in employing mock three-dimensional trickery in order to produce a realistic image, where none was needed. He felt that much of the contemporary decorative qualities in carpet and rug design served no purpose other than to jar the ambiance of a planned interior, and felt that much could be learnt from traditional surface pattern techniques, particularly those used within the Islamic world.

Although Morris carpet designs were very often complex, the colour palette and compositional work produced by him and his company, was never heightened to the detriment of an interior. As far as Morris was concerned, the carpet was supposed to compliment the furnishings not dominate them.

Morris, along with many others in nineteenth century Britain, felt that the newest and latest members of the by now burgeoning middle class, needed to be educated towards a better management of their interiors. It was assumed that taste was something that could be taught. The constant publication throughout the century, often by self-proclaimed connoisseurs of taste, of books and articles dealing with the achievement of taste and refinement, and their undoubted and obvious popularity, showed that large sections of the general public had an appetite for these lessons and were more than willing to be taught.

Illustration: William Morris. Bullerswood, 1889.

Further reading links:

Designs of William Morris (Phaidon Miniature Editions) 

William Morris (Temporis) 

V&A Pattern: William Morris (Hardcover with CD) 

William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Home 
William Morris Full-Color Patterns and Designs (Pictorial Archives)
News from Nowhere and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)
William Morris (Temporis)
William Morris: Patterns & Designs (International Design Library)
William Morris on Art and Socialism
William Morris: A Life for Our Time
William Morris Decor and Design
William Morris: Artist, Craftman, Pioneer
The Gardens of William Morris