1880s Britain was being crushed by its own Industrial Revolution. Coal smoke blackened London, cheap mass-produced furniture and wallpaper flooded middle-class homes — and William Morris, watching it all, made a claim that sounds very indie today: everything we own should be made by hand, and made beautiful.

He opened Morris & Co. to print his own wallpaper, weave tapestries and print books (the Kelmscott Press); his circle built the Red House — the first time anyone treated ‘home’ as a complete design project.

This movement is the shared grandfather of today’s Bauhaus, Scandinavian design, Etsy, MUJI and slow fashion. Every time someone says ‘reject mass production, return to craft,’ Morris’s ghost gives a quiet thumbs-up.