Britishness isn’t easy to define, but you’d probably recognise it if you saw it on a cushion. Our Auctionet Academy session, Lovable Patterns, part of the serie Shaping Britishness, explores some of the most iconic British patterns and asks: what do they say about us? Ditzy florals and rebellious tartans tell us something about our culture and history. We want to explore further why they are so loved, even centuries after they originated.
Auctionets specialist Kayleigh Davies teaches courses on British cultural treasures, such as patterns, crafts, and beloved artists, in the series Shaping Britishness at Auctionet Academy.
William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Ideal
If we're going to discuss British patterns, we have to start with William Morris. The name will be familiar to many, even those with little interest in design, being on the curriculum for many schools. But he wasn't just a giant of naturalistic wallpaper design, he was a poet, novelist, socialist and craftsman, with a vision for how art could improve everyday life.
Portrait of William Morris from the book “The Life of William Morris” by John William Mackail. © Wikimedia Commons
Morris believed that beautiful, useful things belonged in every home, not just the homes of the rich. We worry and complain about mass production and shoddy goods now, but this is not a new problem–it was an issue in the Victorian era too. He championed handmade, high-quality work rooted in tradition and inspired by nature, ideals that were part of the wider Arts and Crafts movement. His quote, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful", still resonates today.
Iconic Designs by William Morris
Among his many designs, three stand out as particularly beloved, from the left, Acanthus, Willow Bough and Strawberry Thief. Followed by Mary Isobel and Golden Lilly.
Strawberry Thief is the ultimate Morris print, featuring birds stealing fruit against a foliate backdrop, originally inspired by the thrushes in his garden at Kelmscott Manor. It was created using a complicated and labour intensive printing method known as indigo discharge, which involved dying the fabric a deep blue before removing colour in specific areas. The result is intricate, colourful and captivating.
Acanthus, by contrast, is grander and more architectural. It's a classical motif, which could be staid but the organic movement Morris is able to weave in elevates it. It’s a testament to the design, with its clean lines and bold colours, that it seems equally at home in a Victorian parlour or a modern living room.
Willow Bough, the calmest of the patterns I've picked, was inspired by the trees at the river near his home. It's a great interpretation of the everyday poetry of nature, and the feeling of bringing the outdoors inside means it remains one of the most popular Morris prints.
What unites these patterns is a love of detail, a respect for craft and a belief that the natural world belongs inside our homes. Morris wasn’t just creating pretty wallpapers, but attempting to reshape how people live through design.
Explore more courses and events in England at Auctionet Academy
Tartan: Identity in Every Thread
If Morris was about nature and craftsmanship, tartan is about identity and heritage, and a bit of rebellion, too. Tartan's roots stretch back centuries, with early Scottish weavers creating simple checks from undyed wool, gradually incorporating colours from natural dyes. Eventually these checks would evolve into the more complex patterns we now call tartans, and began to signal regional or familial identity.
In the 18th century, tartan was not just fabric, it was political. During the Jacobite uprisings, tartan became a symbol of defiance against the British Crown. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the British government passed the Dress Act, effectively banning Highland dress, including tartan, in an attempt to suppress Scottish culture.
Shaping Britishness - George IV in Highland Dress, portrait by David Wilkie. The king visited Edinburgh in 1822, rekindeling the kilt as a cultural symbol.
As with many bans, it wasn't the end of tartan, but the beginning of it being valued and romanticised. When the ban was lifted authors like Sir Walter Scott helped revive interest in Highland culture with his novels like Waverley and Rob Roy. When King George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822, kitted out in full Highland regalia, this was the beginning of tartan being associated with Britain more widely, as well as Scotland. Queen Victoria took it further, well known for her love of Scotland, Prince Albert designed the exclusive Balmoral tartan, the colours said to be inspired by the granite of Balmoral castle.
Tartan Today
Today, tartan is many things. It still represents Scottish heritage, but it's also a mainstay in fashion. British designers such as Vivienne Westwood have long embraced tartan, it has been celebrated within music subcultures (especially punk), and woven into interior design. A tartan throw on a sofa might signal tradition or rebellion. Many of us own something tartan, and that ubiquity is part of its power. It’s a pattern that is everywhere, but means different things to different people.
Tartan-inspired Harris Tweed suit by Vivienne Westwood. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Liberty: A Print Archive of Joy
Liberty of London is a temple of print. But the Liberty story is about more than just beautiful fabrics. Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his Regent Street store in 1875 with a vision of bringing fine, decorative goods from around the world to London. He wanted his shop to feel like an Eastern bazaar, filled with colour, craftsmanship and wonder. His motto was "Art fabrics for the people".
The success of the store led to the development of its own fabric line, and eventually, Liberty became a design house in its own right. Its signature cotton, Tana Lawn, is finely woven and smooth, ideal for capturing intricate patterns.
Liberty of London store, Regent Street, Westminster. Photo: Anthony O’Neil / Geograph / CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Liberty Look
Liberty prints are known for their whimsy, delicate florals, and that distinctive “Liberty look”. The Liberty archive holds over 50,000 patterns, and its design team regularly dips into this to reimagine old favourites or create new ones with the same feeling and spirit.
William Morris makes an appearance again with Liberty, they even have their own version of Strawberry Thief, while others design include miniature florals, Art Nouveau curves or modern abstract repeats. What links them all is a quiet elegance.
Liberty fabrics are everywhere: high-end fashion, baby clothes, upholstery, stationery, even trainers. Few patterns have such versatility, or such devoted fans.
So Why Do We Still Love These Patterns?
Patterns aren’t just about style. They evoke emotions and memories, and even speak to our identity. Whether it’s comfort and familiarity we find in Morris’s leaves, the bold geometry of tartan, or the intricacy of Liberty florals, these prints invite us to feel something. They offer comfort and nostalgia, reminding us of where we come from. Most crucially, they adapt.
In exploring these patterns, we’re really exploring ourselves, or at least, the values and aesthetics that have shaped British culture across generations. What we choose to decorate with, wear, and pass down reveals a lot about how we see the world. Nature, rebellion, eccentricity, nostalgia all play a part in what makes something “British", and as Britishness evolves so do our patterns.
Text: Kayleigh Davies
){kind=spacer}
