William Morris is best known as the 19th century's most celebrated designer, but he was also a driven polymath who spent much of his life fighting the consensus.

A key figure in the Arts & Crafts Movement, Morris championed a principle of handmade production that didn't chime with the Victorian era's focus on industrial 'progress'. 

 "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." -William Morris

 See more of Morris' work in the V&A collection here.