Step inside one of the most talked-about exhibitions of the year with the curator who brought it to life.
The London Society has been offered an exclusive guided tour of Morris Mania, led by Hadrian Garrard, Director of the William Morris Gallery and curator of this bold and thought-provoking exhibition. This special event offers a unique opportunity to explore William Morris’s remarkable afterlife in design, culture and everyday life.
More than 125 years after his death, William Morris has gone viral. His intricately crafted designs – once the preserve of a limited audience – are now found on everything from phone cases to wallpaper, film sets to fashion catwalks. Morris Mania traces how Morris’s ideals and aesthetic have not only endured but exploded into the mainstream, finding their way into homes, shopping centres, TV shows, social media feeds and even nuclear submarines.
During this in-depth tour, Garrard will explore how Morris’s core beliefs – about beauty, nature, craft and justice – continue to resonate, challenge and inspire, especially in the face of modern concerns around mass production, sustainability and cultural identity. You’ll gain insight into the exhibition’s wide-ranging and often surprising objects, from ‘Willow’-patterned Nike trainers and Loewe fashion to Morris mugs, biscuit tins and even Morris-themed chopsticks – many contributed by the public as part of the exhibition’s living collection.
The tour will also reflect on Morris’s powerful local legacy in Waltham Forest, where his commitment to the idea that art should be for everyone remains deeply embedded in the borough’s cultural life. Visitors will also get an introduction to Wallpaper (2025), a newly commissioned film by Natalie Cubides-Brady, which unpacks the designer’s visual influence in screen culture – from My Fair Lady and Django Unchained to Coronation Street and Gogglebox.
Whether you’re a lifelong Morris enthusiast or newly curious about one of Britain’s most iconic designers, this tour offers a chance to engage with his legacy in fresh and unexpected ways.
Image credit: Nicola Tree for © William Morris Gallery
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