Useful and beautiful

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

Morris was born in 1834 and lived through one of the most profound changes in design and manufacture of everyday objects, brought about through the industrial revolution. His rejection of the over-elaborate designs of this first generation of industrial design is seen in his passion for hand-crafted work, something of a luxury in his own day, but even more so now. The question is whether we can still uphold his philosophy, but capitalising on the wide array of industrially produced goods that are now available.

Wallpaper design by William Morris

We live in an era of overwhelming choice, ranging from the most tawdry or over-elaborate to extremely beautiful pieces, the latter often very reasonably priced. I find my own taste will be met either by the cheapest or the most expensive item on offer, perhaps an indication of my Modern Movement upbringing! So what should we be looking for amid all this choice? 

A mincer of timeless design

One of the most important principles is authenticity: the materials from which the object is made should be consistent with the properties of the material and be suited to the function for which it is designed. 

This simple ceramic container with its wooden lid perfectly expresses the materials from which it is made, making it timelessly elegant.

Also, things we use every day should be comfortable to handle and fit for purpose: good industrial design has this as a first principle - the "styling" comes out of refinement of the design that improves its usefulness and practicality. 

The decorative wooden box and metal container echo the materials and detailing of the table

So what about the "beautiful" in the Morris quote? I think the clue here is in his insistence that this is your belief, not dictated by some famous designer or some other doyen of "taste". This said, we do tend to surround ourselves with a larger and larger collection of objects that seem to breed and multiply, causing visual overload. Here it is worth "curating" your collection, say once or twice a year, keeping some things packed away and ringing the changes. This often enhances the value we place on our treasures, as we will see them in a new light when differently juxtaposed, and when they have been hidden away for a spell.

This leads on to another challenge: what to do when you are gifted something that doesn't fit with your taste? My first response is to hide it at the very back of a corner cupboard (those ones that are impossible to reach)! This isn't always an option, so the alternative is to make it into a feature - think about other objects that can be paired with it. For example, if it is a very decorative piece of glassware, you can make a whole assemblage of glass objects of more streamlined design. Eventually you can relegate the item to the back cupboard, or conversely wait until fashion or your taste changes. 

A collection of glassware from different eras

Morris was a great proponent for hand-crafted furniture and household artefacts. As with industrial design, there is huge choice ranging from the most beautiful pieces to the most awful. Once again, authenticity is always a safe option: an object that expresses its function and the materials from which it has been made will always look good and be comfortable to use. But what about more decorative pieces? Here your instinct is your best guide: what have you lived with and enjoyed for a long time and not just while it has been in fashion when you bought it? Can you imagine living with the item in ten or twenty years time? If you can, then you have probably chosen an heirloom, one that will give you joy for many years to come and that your friends and family will also treasure as reflective of your personality.