After roughly a decade in the interior design trade producing stained glass windows, hand-blocked wallpapers and fabrics, and machine-woven carpets William Morris began manufacturing hand knotted carpets. His interest stemmed from the antique oriental carpets which were then being imported to Great Britain in large numbers.

He studied their design, color and construction to such an extent that he was recognized as an authority and called upon as a consultant to the Victoria & Albert Museum (then called the South Kensington Museum) in their purchases of antique oriental carpets for their collection. In 1878 he purchased a house, that he named Kelmscott, near the Thames River in the London borough of Hammersmith and set up looms in the carriage house.