Kate Faulkner and William Morris

A designer documented by her objects

Kate Faulkner belongs to the group of women who worked for Morris & Co. and whose contributions survive mainly through object records rather than biographies. The Victoria and Albert Museum names her twice: once as the decorator of a grand piano and once as a possible designer of a woven furnishing fabric. Those two records are the spine of this profile.

It is worth being clear about what the records do not say. They give no birth or death dates for Faulkner, no account of when or how she met William Morris, and no dated description of her relationship to him or to the Firm. This page therefore describes what can be documented and flags what cannot.

For readers who want the wider story of the Firm and its founder, the William Morris biography page sets out his life and the circle around him. Faulkner is one of several collaborators whose work is easier to trace in objects than in documents, a pattern also seen with Thomas Wardle, the dyeing specialist Morris worked with on textiles.

The 1883 grand piano at the V&A

The clearest object record naming Kate Faulkner is a grand piano held by the Victoria and Albert Museum under number O86392. The V&A records the piano as designed by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, decorated by Kate Faulkner, and made by John Broadwood & Sons Ltd in 1883. The division of labour is explicit: Burne-Jones designed, Faulkner decorated, Broadwood built.

The materials and decoration are described in detail in the museum's record. The case is oak, stained and decorated with gold and silver-gilt gesso. According to the V&A, the oak was originally stained green, a colour that has now faded, and the decoration shows birds, fruits and flowers executed in relief in silvered and gilt gesso. The result is a three-dimensional surface rather than flat painted ornament.

The commission connects the piano directly to Morris's circle. The V&A records that John Broadwood & Sons built the instrument for A.C. Ionides, whom the museum describes as a friend and client of William Morris, Sir Edward Burne-Jones and other Pre-Raphaelite artists. A piano designed by Burne-Jones for a client shared with Morris, and decorated by Faulkner, is a good example of how the Firm's projects drew on a network of designers, makers and patrons. More on Edward Burne-Jones and his working relationship with Morris can be read in our separate guide.

'Vine and Pomegranate' and an unresolved attribution

The second documented object is a furnishing fabric titled Vine and Pomegranate. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds two specimens in woven wool, under museum numbers O271043 and O271044, both dated ca. 1887. The fabric is woven with the pattern in white and two shades of red.

The attribution is not settled, and the museum's own records are the source of the uncertainty. According to the V&A, Vine and Pomegranate is recorded as designed by William Morris or Kate Faulkner for Morris & Co., ca. 1887. The maker records list both Morris and Faulkner as designers, while the brief description says designed by William Morris or Kate Faulkner, and the primary maker is William Morris alone. The same ambiguity appears in the second object record.

The production history is also broader than the 1887 date suggests. The V&A gives the fabric a production date range of ca. 1887 to 1919, meaning the pattern remained in production long after its first appearance. For a design-history reader, the honest summary is this: Faulkner is named in the records as a possible designer, but the museum does not resolve whether the design was hers, Morris's, or a joint effort.

What the records leave open

Several questions that readers naturally bring to a profile like this cannot be answered from the available evidence. There is no documented account of when or how Faulkner met Morris. There is no dated description of her relationship to him or to the Firm. Her birth and death dates are not given in the records consulted here.

The evidence also covers only two objects: the grand piano made in 1883, according to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Vine and Pomegranate fabric. No further works by Faulkner with object records are included in the material used for this profile, and the records do not state how the piano decoration was commissioned or what her exact role was beyond decorating it. A careful profile has to stop where the records stop, and this one does.

Seeing Kate Faulkner's work today

Both documented objects are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum, which makes it the natural starting point for anyone who wants to see Faulkner's work in person. The piano, with its gesso relief of birds, fruits and flowers, and the woven Vine and Pomegranate fabric are the two records to look for. Checking the museum's online collection or display schedules before a visit is the practical way to confirm what is on view.

If you want to bring Morris and Co. patterns into your own rooms, our full collection of prints gathers designs drawn from the Firm's documented output.