At first glance, the dense floral patterns of William Morris (1834-96) share little in common with the sleek machine-driven aesthetic of the Bauhaus, the German school of design which opened in Weimar in 1919 and celebrates its centenary this year. Yes despite the many differences between the two groups, the Bauhaus was, from its conception, deeply indebted to the ideals of the English Arts and Crafts movement. This talk, drawing on research for the exhibition ‘Pioneers: William Morris and the Bauhaus’, on display at the William Morris Gallery in London (19 October 2019—26 January 2020), focuses on craftsmanship, an often overlooked aspect of the Bauhaus. It asks how the Arts and Crafts principles of simplicity, unity, and community were reinvented at the Bauhaus and investigates Morris’s influence on the Bauhaus mission to design a better world.