Hand block-printed textiles, one of the oldest forms of printing textiles, became a political act, due to the pioneering work of William Morris.
Morris revived block printing in the 1880's, producing beautiful patterns using natural indigo and resist dyeing. He was passionate about craft and the many traditional forms of applied art which were being swept away by the speed and mechanisation of the industrial revolution, which itself was started by the discovery of faster ways to produce and print textiles.
Like the craftsman, Morris believed that humans were meant to be fully engaged and content in their work, but the factory workers of industrialisation were disempowered and bored by the repetitive, manual labour. As a response, he set up Morris & Co, which employed men with no training or education who learnt the traditional techniques for hand printing and dying of fabrics and wallpapers.
Following in his footsteps were two pioneering women in the 1920's - Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher. After being inspired by some old block printed textiles at a brocante market in the south of France, Barron and Larcher set up a studio and shop in London producing block printed textiles using natural dyes.
I recently saw an archive collection of their beautiful work at the Craft Study Centre in Surrey. Like Morris, they managed to build up a successful business providing one-off printed fabrics to the design scene in London, and it was only the outbreak of the Second World War which forced them to close.
