SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECT
The Future of Arts+Crafts
The Future of Arts+Crafts
Inspired by Standen:
The Rustle of an Electric Bustle
The Rustle of an Electric Bustle
Exploring the memory of Standen through the medium of light.
"History (so-called) has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; Art has remembered the people, because they created."
The Art of the People (Lecture, 1879)
The Art of the People (Lecture, 1879)
William Morris
Pioneer of the Arts & Crafts movement and creator of Standen’s iconic textile and wallpaper patterns.
My reflection on Morris’s core philosophy—and the fundamental principles he embedded into his craft—began through restorative practice, handling objects created prior to 1917. Broken or worn, pieces made by masters working in true alignment with their materials hold an honest, unwritten history. Looking back across nearly a century and a half, one realizes that the physical marks of time often speak more clearly than archives.
At Standen, the familiar Morris patterns transition from flat designs into three-dimensional space. Entering the light-filled Morning Room, one is struck not by historical distance, but by a quiet sense of immediacy—as though the room’s inhabitants have merely stepped into the garden for a moment.
It is a distinctly personal, domestic space. Standing there, one begins to appreciate how Philip Webb’s architecture, Morris’s textiles, and the daily lives of the Beale family women shaped a uniquely modern vision of the English home.
It is a distinctly personal, domestic space. Standing there, one begins to appreciate how Philip Webb’s architecture, Morris’s textiles, and the daily lives of the Beale family women shaped a uniquely modern vision of the English home.
The Morning Room
The Beale women played a central role in the story of Standen House.
Margaret Beale, together with her husband James, commissioned architect Philip Webb to design their country retreat, taking a leading role in selecting its Morris & Co. furnishings, textiles, and original garden plantings. Her daughters actively shaped the vibrant family home, with the youngest, Helen Mary Beale (1885–1972), leaving a particularly remarkable legacy. During the First World War, she served as a Red Cross VAD nurse in France and later held senior leadership roles in the Women's Royal Naval Service, earning an OBE for her service. In her later years, Helen managed Standen’s 200-acre farm and pedigree Jersey herd alongside her sister Maggie, before ultimately bequeathing the estate to the National Trust in 1972 to ensure its preservation.*
Margaret Beale, together with her husband James, commissioned architect Philip Webb to design their country retreat, taking a leading role in selecting its Morris & Co. furnishings, textiles, and original garden plantings. Her daughters actively shaped the vibrant family home, with the youngest, Helen Mary Beale (1885–1972), leaving a particularly remarkable legacy. During the First World War, she served as a Red Cross VAD nurse in France and later held senior leadership roles in the Women's Royal Naval Service, earning an OBE for her service. In her later years, Helen managed Standen’s 200-acre farm and pedigree Jersey herd alongside her sister Maggie, before ultimately bequeathing the estate to the National Trust in 1972 to ensure its preservation.*
I decided to create a light assemblage capturing a collective portrait of women through the mediums of light and sartorial silhouette. Inspired by the palpable sense of presence in the Morning Room at Standen, this piece will capture a collective portrait of Margaret Beale and her daughters during the early 1890s—a moment defined by two converging turning points: a shift in sartorial silhouette and the quiet revolution of domestic electricity.
The early 1890s marked the decline of the Victorian bustle—a rigid structure that had long constrained the female figure—in favour of a freer, more fluid silhouette. At Standen, this movement towards physical freedom coincided with W.A.S. Benson’s pioneering electrical design. The arrival of electricity transformed the atmosphere of the home, replacing the heavy gloom and soot of gaslight with a clear, soft radiance.
As the restrictive layers of the past faded, the Beale women stepped into a brightened environment, taking an active role in shaping their surroundings—from directing complex interior schemes to cultivating the surrounding gardens. The work captures that transitional moment: the soft rustle of departing 19th-century skirts under the glow of a new era.
The early 1890s marked the decline of the Victorian bustle—a rigid structure that had long constrained the female figure—in favour of a freer, more fluid silhouette. At Standen, this movement towards physical freedom coincided with W.A.S. Benson’s pioneering electrical design. The arrival of electricity transformed the atmosphere of the home, replacing the heavy gloom and soot of gaslight with a clear, soft radiance.
As the restrictive layers of the past faded, the Beale women stepped into a brightened environment, taking an active role in shaping their surroundings—from directing complex interior schemes to cultivating the surrounding gardens. The work captures that transitional moment: the soft rustle of departing 19th-century skirts under the glow of a new era.
Late bustle dress 1885
W.A.S. Benson’s pioneering electrical design
About Materials
To realize the project, I selected reclaimed antique materials gathered from across England, from Kent to Cumbria:
- An original opalescent glass shade from the turn of the last century.
- Brass elements: an antique chandelier arm and a vessel with animalistic motifs.
- Fragmented late-Victorian earthenware component, transfer-printed with an Imari-inspired floral motif and 'LOTUS' pattern stamp; salvaged condition with an exposed historic break edge.
- Draped antique linen with hand embroidery.
The Rustle of an Electric Bustle
I named the assemblage The Rustle of an Electric Bustle, conceptualising it as the sound of female presence captured within the early hum of domestic electric lighting.
Designed for eye-level placement on a chest of drawers or mantelpiece, the piece is currently installed in the upper-floor guest bedroom for the duration of the exhibition, contextualising the glass within lived domestic space.
The Rustle of an Electric Bustle
now sits in an upper-floor guest bedroom
Currently exhibiting at Standen House (National Trust) for Inspired by Standen | 2 July – 30 September 2026
Notes & Sources
* Stutchbury, A. F. (2018) Helen Beale Special Edition Booklet 2018. Published for the exhibition ‘Helen Beale - Never at Sea’, curated by Victoria Witty, National Trust at Standen (28 April – 11 November 2018).