Tulip and Rose by Morris & Co.

Designed by William Morris and woven for Morris & Co. by the Heckmondwike Manufacturing Company, this was the first dateable Morris design for a woven furnishing textile, important for its budding abstraction. The piece features grid-like, symmetrical repeating patterns of natural forms, anticipating the upcoming Art Nouveau movement’s use of nature as well as as the early digital generative art structure. The work, as well as Morris & Co.’s growing interior design innovations were emblematic of what would become known as the Arts & Crafts movement. Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts, both progressive design movements, were some of the earliest examples of how technology began influencing art during the first wave of industrialization.