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During the Great Exhibition of 1851, the world came to London and saw the first wave of mass-produced consumer goods. Most of it was what textile designer and social activist William Morris called "shoddy"— cheap, poorly made, and "ugly". Critics of these goods argued it was designed by machines to mimic hand-made luxury, except without the soul. But Morris didn’t reject the machine. Along with the Arts & Crafts movement, he demanded that the machine be the servant of the craftsman. They built the Kelmscott Press, treating the "technology" of printing as a way to create the most beautiful books in history. They challenged the decline in printing, ushered in a new aesthetic, exerted greater agency, and inspired the Private Press movement. This fork of 1851 is perhaps one of the most significant moments in the history of design. It put to humans a central question: For Morris, that question of aesthetic was grounded in the question of agency: 175 years on, I believe we face Morris’ quest
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