Victorian poet, textile designer and soon-to-be socialist, William Morris said of his speech in 1877, “I don’t want to do some art, than I want to get some education or some free art.”

In an unequal society, the elite and middle class have time and money to spend on art, and when the working class toils for them, Morris imagines a community where there is a work of art that can be found in his own work (or craft).

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It was a grand vision that was influenced by Karl Marx and John Ruskin, but it was ultimately impossible for him to achieve in his life. Morris's life is one of the contradictions: a radical socialist, while a successful businessman, designed wallpapers and interiors of middle-class houses and earned £1,800 a year in trouble (enough to bear the burden of his family's six servants).

In many ways, contradictions follow Morris into the afterlife. One warned customers against his imitators and believed that “machines can do everything – except to make artworks,” is now imitating generated artificial intelligence, while the resulting products are treated as art communications on Etsy and Temu.

In a world where Morris' designs are disconnected from his radical ideas, his pattern symbolizes a return to traditional Victorian values ​​or a meaningless cheap cup, with a modern object that perfectly embodies everything Morris stands for.

In 2023, Walthamsto Football Club, William Morris Gallery, Wood Street Walls and Admiral Sportswear teamed up to create Walthamsto Football Club’s 2023-25 ​​home and away kit. This is the first time the museum has worked with the kit’s soccer club and the result is one of the best toolkits of the year. Now, I like this kit for a few reasons.

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First, I lived in Walthamstow all my life. I wasn't going to brag, but the first game I played was Walthamstow FC Game (or Waltham Forest as I knew at the time). It was filled with pride to see my local club’s kit and to learn about its ambitious use of the funds raised from the kit sales to create a team of women.

Second, in the eighth level of British football, there is some poetic side that shows how the football kit is properly designed by billionaire-backed Premier League outfits. Forgot the first kit from last season, copy and paste; Away Kit, a retro remake of the Classic 1980s Kit; the third kit, a number of neon lights that no one wears; limited edition fourth, working with a fashion house that longs for a sweet soccer pie. Instead, tell a story about a hero from home and pay tribute to the football legacy by working with the creators of the first copy football suite.

Third, and most importantly, the kit is something that Morris might approve. Is there any better way to make art available to everyone than through the game of the people? Given the working-class roots of the game, the Walthamstow FC suite has achieved something Morris could never do in his life: the art of making the well-crafted but affordable masses. "There's nothing in the house that you don't know is useful or believe in beautiful things," Morris said. The shirt can be used as a football kit and a great fashion piece with two boxes outlined.

So I decided to direct a documentary. The people who made it in Walthamstow explore the history of copying football kits, the meaning of Morris, and the power of the Walthamstow community. The main participants of the project (from director Hadrian Garrard of William Morris Gallery to local Congressman Stella Creasy), the documentary celebrates everything from Walthamsto.

It is a labor of true love, not this sentence from William Morris. I funded the film, shot interviews, edited videos and organized screenings at the William Morris Gallery, Orford House and Forest School. It's all worth it for a story that is so close to my heart. And, like Morris wanted, the documentary is now available for everyone to see.