22-23_Habitat.qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 06/01/2025 15:44 Page 1
THE BIG INTERVIEW: HABITAT AND MORRIS & CO.
2024 saw Morris & Co. and Habitat – two iconic names in British design – come together for a homewares collaboration that reframes William Morris’s timeless Arts & Crafts aesthetic for the contemporary home. Licensing Museum & Heritage Book catches up with Habitat’s head of home buying, Anna Cross, and Amy Deane-Boyd, designer at Morris & Co., to find out how the partnership worked in practice.
Inset: The Merton armchair is upholstered in William Morris’s celebrated Sunflower design.
Living in harmony
H
“
The collection, available at Habitat online and in ave nothing in your houses that you do Sainsbury’s stores across the UK, has been not know to be useful or believe to be carefully considered to deliver harmony as well beautiful.” The famous quote by William as great style to the home. The furniture – Morris, the founder of the Arts & Crafts carefully crafted in oak, marble and glass – is movement, could easily be applied to the elegant designed to sit alongside the iconic naturehandcrafted furniture and decorative pieces that inspired artworks from the Morris & Co. archive make up Habitat’s debut Morris & Co. collection. that feature across new homewares and Ranging from candles and cushions to statement upholstery. The overall aesthetic is a blend of the pieces like fluted glass cabinets and a solid traditional and contemporary, ashwood painted bedframe, each item Below: Lamp bases in the collection that works well across a variety in the 150-strong range highlights the reflect the print rollers held in the Morris & Co. archive; the finishing glaze of styles and settings. heritage and craftsmanship that Morris brings the detailing to life. “As well as the Morris & Co. and & Co. is renowned for, combined with Habitat archives, our design and Habitat’s product know-how and product development teams design innovation. were particularly inspired by Red “Great design is at the heart of House, the home of William everything we do at Habitat, and we Morris and his wife Jane, which share that passion with Morris & Co.,” we visited right at the start of says Anna Cross, head of Habitat our partnership,” Anna says. home buying. “We’re so proud to “Having such amazing resources have begun an exclusive partnership at our disposal allowed us to with them this year. Our first range explore a traditional Victorian collaboration was over a year in the aesthetic which we could then making, from initial conversations and blend with a more modern-day ideation to ultimately bringing a luxury look across the product offering for beautiful collection of affordable products to today’s interior styles. We were also inspired by our customers.”
22
LICENSING MUSEUM & HERITAGE BOOK 2025