William Morris Gallery

Site-specific archival collaboration within London Craft Week

As part of London Craft Week, I was invited by the William Morris Gallery to develop a site-specific project grounded in close study of the gallery’s archive. The project was developed in direct collaboration with the gallery, working closely with archival material throughout the process.

The project began with a focused period of archival research. William Morris’s botanical and floral designs were examined as design systems, with attention to pattern construction, repetition, scale, and compositional structure. The research considered how these botanical forms operate within craft and decorative practice, and how they were developed and applied across surfaces that structure daily life, including wallpapers and textiles. Particular attention was given to recurring compositional strategies and formal identifiers present within the archive.

This research led to the development of a series of watercolour works, which established the visual and material framework for the project. These drawings and paintings functioned as an intermediate stage between archival research and embodied outcome, allowing the material to be worked through before moving into tattooing.

Following this research phase, an open call invited individuals with a sustained interest in both William Morris’s work and my botanical tattoo practice to take part in the project. A selected participant received a live tattoo at the gallery, with the final composition developed in response to the archival research and the individual collaboration.