{"product_id":"william-morris-jasmine-strawberry-thief-wall-art-set","title":"William Morris Jasmine \u0026 Strawberry Thief Wall Art Set","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"d-sec\"\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"d-h\"\u003eThe Story Behind Strawberry Thief\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"d-p\"\u003eMost patterns are just patterns. This one has an origin, and it is a good one: Morris took the design from the thrushes he found stealing fruit in the kitchen garden at his house in Oxfordshire, and rather than being annoyed about it he drew them mid-theft. That is what the birds in the pattern are doing, strawberry in beak, which is the sort of detail that gets missed entirely on a curtain and becomes obvious once the design is blown up to fill a frame. It also made the design difficult to produce. Getting those colours to sit correctly took Morris a great deal of trouble, and Strawberry Thief went on to become the best known thing he ever made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"d-p\"\u003eJasmine, the other half of the pair, is the quieter design and the older one. It is an open trailing pattern with no figures in it at all, built from stems and small flowers rather than incident, and it does the job of balancing its neighbour. That contrast is the reason the two are worth hanging together: one is busy and narrative, the other is calm and structural, and a pair made of two dense patterns or two quiet ones would be far less interesting than this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"d-p\"\u003eEach frame measures 360 mm tall by 305 mm wide and 30 mm deep, glazed in a white frame on hinge hanger fixings, with a combined weight of 1.5 kg. Both designs are die cut with the perforated edge intact and raised clear of the ground behind them, so each stamp casts its own shadow within the box, and the typography is finished in gold metal leaf. For warm timber and a change of shape nearby, the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.theurbanmill.co.uk\/products\/walnut-wooden-oval-wall-mirror-mr550wl\"\u003eWalnut Wooden Oval Wall Mirror\u003c\/a\u003e gives the pair a plain curved counterweight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"d-sec\"\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"d-h d-hu\"\u003eWhat the Pair Brings to a Wall\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"d-ul\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eA design with a story.\u003c\/span\u003e Strawberry Thief comes from thrushes raiding Morris's kitchen garden, and the birds are in the pattern with the fruit.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eBalance between the two.\u003c\/span\u003e One dense and figurative, one open and structural, so the pair holds interest without competing with itself.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eWarm reds and rose.\u003c\/span\u003e A palette for cream, warm white and terracotta rooms rather than cool grey ones.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eDie cut and raised.\u003c\/span\u003e Perforated edges and real relief within the shadow box, so each stamp sits proud and casts a shadow.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eGold leaf lettering.\u003c\/span\u003e Metal leaf that catches light where the printed pattern beside it does not.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eLight and simple to hang.\u003c\/span\u003e 1.5 kg for the pair, on hinge hangers that sit each frame flat and square.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"d-sec\"\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"d-h\"\u003eWhy These Two Work as a Pair\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"d-p\"\u003ePairs of patterns usually go wrong in the same way. Two designs of similar density hung together read as wallpaper samples, and the eye has nowhere to rest between them. These two avoid that because they were never doing the same job. Strawberry Thief is a figurative design, built around birds and fruit with something happening in it, and it holds attention. Jasmine has no incident at all, only stems and small flowers repeating across the ground, and it gives the eye somewhere quiet to go. Hung side by side you look at one and rest on the other, which is why a busy design and a calm one make a better pair than two of either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"d-sec\"\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"d-h\"\u003eWhere to Put It and What It Will Do to the Room\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"d-p\"\u003eIn a hallway or on a landing, where people pass close enough to spot the birds. Above a desk in a study, at the distance small work deserves. In a cloakroom, the traditional home for artwork worth examining. On a narrow return or in an alcove where the modest size suits a wall a larger piece could not use. Side by side or stacked in a kitchen near open shelving. The reds and rose work against cream, warm white, chalk, greige and terracotta.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"d-sec\"\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"d-h\"\u003eThe Practical Details Before You Buy\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"d-ul\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eHang them close together.\u003c\/span\u003e Keep the gap between the frames narrower than one frame is wide, or the pair stops reading as a set. Side by side, align the centres rather than the tops; stacked, line up the left and right edges exactly.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eHinge hanger fixings.\u003c\/span\u003e Each frame carries its own, so each needs its own wall fixing. At 1.5 kg for the pair the load is light, so a wall plug and screw into masonry, or a suitable plasterboard fixing, is enough for each.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eHang them where they will be read.\u003c\/span\u003e At 360mm tall the detail is the whole point, so choose a wall people stand near rather than one seen from across a room.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"d-li\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"d-lbl\"\u003eClean the glass, not the artwork.\u003c\/span\u003e Dust the frames with a dry, soft cloth and dampen a cloth away from the pieces for the glazing. Never spray anything at a framed picture, since liquid can run behind the glass and reach the gold leaf.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Urban Mill","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56795340702076,"sku":"WA995","price":64.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0742\/9672\/1715\/files\/william-morris-postage-stamp-wall-art-set.jpg?v=1779352940","url":"https:\/\/www.theurbanmill.co.uk\/products\/william-morris-jasmine-strawberry-thief-wall-art-set","provider":"The Urban Mill","version":"1.0","type":"link"}