A hundred years after his death, William Morris is remembered for designing wallpapers and fabrics that epitomise Englishness. But in his own day he was best known as a poet and political activist, as well as being a novelist, artist and conservationist.
His life was filled with paradoxes. He was obsessed with the medieval, often using it for inspiration in his patterns, but he also had a socialist vision of the future. He took sides with the working classes, yet he made luxuriant designs for the rich.
MP Tony Benn, designer Terence Conran and Linda Parry, curator of the current major exhibition of Morris's work at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, are among the contributors commenting on the designer's influence in the past and the present.