12 May 2022
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The Faroe Islands remember the visit of textile designer William Morris to the Faroe Islands in 1871 on a new stamp.
The the leading figure in the Arts and Crafts movement travelled to Iceland and the Faroe Islands in 1871 and 1873.
According to Posta Faroe Islands, ‘his trip to Iceland and the Faroe Islands was a prolonged version of his search to find a world not destroyed by industrialism, colonialism and greed; he wanted to find communality and kindness.’
The new 61 KR stamp recreates the fabric ‘Pure Torshavn Weave Fabric’ which was designed during the artist’s trip.
The trip to the Faroe Islands in 1871
When arriving in Faroe Islands in 1871 he was taken by his first sight of a Nordic country. His trip to Iceland and the Faroe Islands was a prolonged version of his search to find a world not destroyed by industrialism, colonialism and greed; he wanted to find communality and kindness.
As a designer, Morris was fascinated with the design of the boats, houses, clothes of men and women in the Faroe Islands. In Kirkjubøur village he found a great number of carved church art and bench ends.
His view of the people was positive and the ‘socioscape’ of Tórshavn were different to those of most travel writers before him. He was also affected by seeing well-known flowers in such a strange place:“… a most beautiful and poetical place it looked to me, but more remote and melancholy than I can say, in spite of the flowers and grass and bright sun … (Ibid. p. 15).”
