William Morris Society of Canada

05/01/2026

Toronto Friends!
We’re pleased to let you know that the WMSC will be participating in Jane’s Walk this year. Jane’s Walk is a festival of free community-led walks held across the world in honour of urbanist and activist Jane Jacobs. Jacobs lived for many years in Toronto, and promoted the value of the walkable city. �

The WMSC is supporting “High Park: An Arts and Crafts Inspired Tour of Eden Smith Homes” on Saturday, May 2 at 2 pm. The walk will be led by Adrian Gamble.

Walk Start Location:
High Park: Eden Smith House at 267 Indian Road (south of Hewitt Avenue)

Walk End Location:
High Park: Ivy Lodge at 94 Boustead Avenue (east of Indian Road)

No registration is required. This is an opportunity for our own members, and to "spread the word" to the general public about the WMSC.
https://www.janeswalkfestivalto.com/saturday-may-2-2026-1/high-park-an-arts-and-crafts-inspired-tour-of-eden-smith-homes

04/08/2026

🌿✨ A Look Back: The Craftsman Garden Issue, April 1911
Spring was in full bloom when Gustav Stickley released the April 1911 Craftsman magazine—an entire issue dedicated to the beauty, purpose, and philosophy of the garden.
In true Stickley fashion, it wasn’t just about planting flowers. It was about creating outdoor spaces that nurtured the spirit, reflected simplicity, and connected daily life to nature—core ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement.
From thoughtful garden layouts to reflections on harmonious living, this issue captured Stickley’s belief that a well‑designed garden was as essential to the home as any room inside it.
More than a century later, his ideas still feel fresh, inspiring, and deeply rooted in the way we think about home and landscape design today.
🌱 A timeless reminder: good design grows from intention, beauty, and living close to nature.
https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/ARJAYQ42ID7JME9E/pages/ANLS3IMOWSWMCB8Y

04/06/2026

Our pattern this year is Tulip from 1875, designed by William Morris.

Featuring a chocolate cake filled with cherries, mascarpone cream, buttercream, and whipped cream. Topped with fondant and royal icing decorations, hand painted with food colouring!

Watch the cake being made on YouTube:

Our pattern this year is Tulip from 1875, designed by William Morris.Featuring a chocolate cake filled with cherries, mascarpone cream, buttercream, and whip...

03/19/2026

Friends!

Join the WMSC for our William Morris 192nd Birthday Lecture:
Eden Smith: Toronto’s Arts & Crafts Architect by Andrew Pruss

Following the lecture will be a presentation of this year’s birthday cake, and a toast to celebrate Morris’s 192nd birthday!

Sign up for the in-person event, or for the online Zoom event:

The website of the William Morris Society of Canada

06/22/2025

Journal of William Morris Studies (UK) - Special Issue on Design - Call for Papers

• How did Morris’s design ideas and practice compare with those of his contemporaries?
• What fields best exemplify Morris’s enduring influence, or lack of influence, textiles, book design, domestic interiors, etc?
• How have changes in consumer taste, and academic interest, affected the assessment or appreciation of Morris?
• Why did Morris’s designs, and the designs of those who worked for him, create economic and cultural value, social and personal meaning, in his time and ours?
• What do Morris artefacts mean to the purchaser/possessor?
• To what extent have Morris & Co designs, and products, been subsumed within capitalist market processes? Or, do they somehow stand outside?
• What were Morris’s views on workplace and job design and does this relate to the current revival of interest in craft design and production?
• What is Morris’s place in global design history?
• What has Morris to say to those involved in sustainable design?

If you have a proposal and would like to run it by the editor, John Blewitt, please send an email to [email protected]

Articles should be in the region of 5000-6000 words. Copy deadline is September 22, 2025. Guidelines for contributors can be found at: https://williammorrissociety.org/guidelines-for-contributors/

04/07/2025

Morris patterns and the capitalist consumer market

A new London exhibition, at the William Morris Gallery, explores the British designer’s complicated legacy in an ever-more commodified world

04/06/2025

Join the WMSC on Saturday May 10th in Toronto for a symposium on Nordic Arts & Crafts!

See the details and registration on our website:
https://www.wmsc.ca/2025/03/may-2025-wmsc-nordic-arts-crafts.html

03/24/2025

🎉 Happy 191st birthday William Morris!

Our cake design this year is Single Stem by John Henry Dearle. Watch the video on YouTube to see how it all came together!

Our pattern this year is Single Stem by John Henry Dearle.Featuring a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, with royal icing decorations.Music: Dawn of Cha...

03/03/2025

From the season of gifts, one of our members received this lovely embroidered Strawberry Thief pin!

01/27/2025

Members! A reminder about our February event:
The Stained Glass Windows of William Morris and Friends by Dr. Geri Parlby
On Zoom from the UK
Sunday February 9, 2025
2:00 pm EST

https://www.wmsc.ca/2025/01/zoom-lecture-stained-glass-windows-of.html

11/04/2024

This Sunday join the WMSC for the lecture: How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris
Lecture by Dr Suzanne Fagence Cooper

Sunday November 10, 2024
On Zoom at 2:00 pm EST.

William Morris wrote: 'The secret of true happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life'. This lecture looks at the houses and works of art that Jane and William Morris made together, from Red House to Kelmscott Manor. Through newly- revealed letters and diaries, furniture, wall-hangings and beautiful books, we can explore the pioneering life they embraced with their artist friends.

*Please note that this online lecture is only for members of the WMSC.