While William Morris has long been recognized for his radical approach to the problem of labor, which built on the ideas of John Ruskin and informed his contributions to the Arts and Crafts philosophy, his ideas about waste have received much less attention. This article suggests that the Kelmscott Press, which Morris founded in 1891, was designed to embody the values of durability and sustaina...

/ n the recent exhibition of Kelmscott Press books held by the University of Melbourne Library, we were treated to many examples of borders designed by William Morris. Some of these borders are repeats, but all draw on Morris's extensive repertoire of 'conventionalised' organic forms. Having spent some time studying the concept of nature in the work of Morris, it was these 'green' borders which...