The Arts & Crafts movement in England was initiated by William Morris during the 1870s. The influence of his designs rapidly spread across Europe and North America and played a key role in shaping the creative life of Great Britain. The distinctive style of antique Arts & Crafts carpets and rugs are defined and characterized by serpentine curvilinear and naturalistic floral patterns executed in a rich, dense palette. Rebelling against their rigid Victorian backgrounds, and the dehumanizing mechanization of the Industrial Age, proponents of the Arts & Crafts movement sought to re-establish the link between the artist and the craftsman, and art and industry. Adhering to the principals of the Arts & Crafts movement, the work of these artisans ranges in style from the Persian-inspired to the proto-modernist. The Hammersmith carpets of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century epitomize the golden age of British carpet weaving and Arts & Crafts rug weaving in general.