Our new gift collection, inspired by the wonderful May Morris and made in collaboration with the Ashmolean Museum.
Love is Enough
Love is Enough is a beautiful poem written by the late, great William Morris, dedicated to his wife Jane in 1872. Their daughter, May Morris, designed the front of the book cover in 1888, and it is from this poem and May’s designs that we have taken inspiration for our new collection.
In the poem, William Morris explains that to confront the dark and overcome challenges, the beauty of the world is all you need, and that love is enough. He believed that love is more valuable than power, wealth or worldly success. The poem explores the idea that love conquers all, and that through love everything is possible. These words have the same meaning and power today as they did when they were first written.
“As a fellow member of a family business, I was moved to learn about May Morris’s journey working alongside her parents. It offered a poignant reflection on the enduring joys and complex challenges of family enterprise, themes that bridge the gap between her era and our own. While over one hundred and fifty years have passed, the dynamics of family remain constant, much like the timeless message that love is enough.
May Morris was a devoted supporter of her father, William Morris, and it is his evocative poem, Love is Enough, that has served as the heartbeat of this collection. Drawing inspiration from May’s own exquisite artwork featuring the symbolic pomegranate tree, we have sought to capture that same spirit of creative collaboration.
I am thrilled to introduce this collection to the world. By marrying the historic beauty of May’s designs and William’s profound poetry with a contemporary, romantic sensibility and a soft, modern colour palette in our bestselling products, we hope to share a piece of this legacy with you.”
– Jennie Elderkin, founder of LIGA
The symbolism of the pomegranate tree.
The pomegranate is a deeply sacred fruit across world traditions, universally symbolising fertility, abundance, resurrection and the hidden mysteries of life. Pomegranates often represent eternal life because of their numerous seeds and deep red colour. They symbolise the duality of life and death, with roots in Greek mythology (Persephone), ancient Persian royalty and Christian resurrection, and often signify marriage and prosperity in many traditions.
About May Morris.
May Morris was the younger daughter of the designer, author and visionary socialist William Morris. She grew up above the shop of her father’s furnishings and decorative arts firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., where she began to develop a talent for design, a keen eye for colour and a mastery of stitch. She loved designing embroidery patterns, fired by her passion for gardening and her love of the countryside around Kelmscott Manor, her Oxfordshire home.
She is recognised today as a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement, a leading exponent of decorative needlework and a campaigner for women artists. One of the largest collections of May’s designs, from roughly sketched ideas to finished patterns, is held by the Ashmolean Museum.
About the Ashmolean.
Over the course of its long and eventful history, the Ashmolean has grown from a cabinet of curiosities into the world’s greatest University Museum of Art and Archaeology. Founded in 1683, it forms part of the University of Oxford’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums. Its world-famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time.
Love is Enough by William Morris.
Love is enough: though the World be a-waning,
And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,
Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover
The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,
Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder
And this day draw a veil over all deeds pass’d over,
Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter;
The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter
These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.
Our new collection features bestsellers: mugs, tea towels, cork & tile trivets, placemats & coasters. Shop Love is Enough.
