Ornament is Now but one of the Follies &#8211

Tiree-du-manuscrit-d’Ibn-Nutlan---Recueil-sur-la-sante-1390-1400

If you wish to have ornament, you must pay specifically for it, and the workman is compelled to produce ornament, as he is to produce other wares. He is compelled to pretend happiness in his work, so that the beauty produced by man’s hand, which was once a solace to his labour, has now become an extra burden to him, and ornament is now but one of the follies of useless toil, and perhaps not the least irksome of its fetters.

— William Morris, “Useful Work v. Useless Toil” (1888)

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