Compton

This wallpaper design was part of a special commission by the Midlands brewer Laurence Hodson for his country house Compton Hall, near Wolverhampton. Registered in the year of Morris's death, Compton was designed by John Henry Dearle, one of the firm's chief designers, who closely imitated Morris's style. Dearle uses floral motifs arranged in a naturalistic manner, scattering the flowers loosely between the diagonal vines. In his 1881 lecture "Some Hints on Pattern Designing," Morris described two structures for repeating patterns: the "net," or diamond pattern, and the "branch," a pattern based on parallel diagonal lines. The branch structure of this design creates a strong impression of upward movement or, as Morris called it, "rational growth."