Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co as it was originally known, was set up in the Spring of 1861 in premises above a jewellry manufacturer at 8 Red Lion Square. Described as Fine Art workmen in Painting, Carving, Furniture and the metals, there were seven partners - Morris, Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Webb, Madox brown, Faulkner and Marshall. Though the idea of such a business was mooted before Red House was built, the house provided some stimulus for, and direction to, the new company and the ongoing experience of building, decorating and furnishing it must have had a significant impact. It would also have strengthened the links between the men and given them more impetus to take on this new activity. However, their frist main market was ecclesiastical, drawing on the links that many of them had - particularly Morris and webb - with the prominent church architects of the time, notably G. F. Bodley. They exhibited successfully at the International Exhibition in South Kensington in 1862 but the first couple of years were financially rocky - requiring additional financial support from both Morris and his mother. Morris became the salaried business manager and all the partners, together with some of the women in the circle, designed and produced. Though the move from the idea of a brotherhood to that of a business was fairly accelerated during the Red house period, Morris did have a wish to bring the firm as well as Burne-Jones and his family, to red house to keep some sense of the artistic community alive. This never happened and the prominence of the businerss in Morris's life was one of the reasons that he left Red House in November 1865 to 'live above the shop' in premises at 26 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, which were intended both for the family and Firm (which had outgrown Red Lion Square). Soon after that the business started to become profitable and to become the source of the decorative arts that have furnished many homes over the last century and a half.
Red Lion Square:
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Queen Square:
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Merton Abbey:
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The Twentieth Century:
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