Pimp My Radiator

William Morris:  “You can never have anything in your house that isn't both useful and beautiful”.  

William Morris was a very well respected Englishman in his day shown by his membership in the Pre Raphraelite Brotherhood; he was an artist, a writer, a textiles designer and a libertarian socialist.  With us for sixty years, he has a lot to show: he founded a textiles firm in partnership with two other artists which then went on to greatly influence the decoration of houses and churches thorough into the 20th century. He was a major contributor to the reviving of traditional textile arts and he helped establish the modern fantasy genre which directly influenced a lot of post war authors and poets.  The list of his contributions he has made to our life today really does go on and on.  

I want to use the inspiring power of Morris 's quote to allow us to look at radiators in a whole new way.

It's fair to say that never in my life have I walked into a room and thought "Wow, what a beautiful radiator!" and on noticing the lack of beauty in radiators it is begging to niggle me.  Why is it that the designers of the world have left the radiator to be PURELY functional? What, may I ask you, would William Morris say?

Radiators are always functional, I can vouch for that, sitting with my back against one in winter, but it's not appealing or beautiful to look at in any way.  Most radiators look the same, white with ridges.  Exciting?  No.

It took me a fair amount of time to find a radiator that wasn't white and I'm strangely impressed with what I've found.  A beautiful room with a Victorian style rug and even a radiator that takes you back.  However, this is not innovative  maybe a little creative and arguably inspiring but at the end of the day, it's simply a lick of paint.  A good start, but I want more, I want design, style and expression through radiators!

Take a look around your house.  You may find a quirky pig shaped teapot; a beautiful driftwood carved pepper grinder, an intricate croquet bed cover, an inspiring glass toilet seat with dried petals suspended within. Go on, take a look!  And when you're done, look at your radiator, you know, the hunk of white metal jutting out of your wall.  

 So many house hold items have been made into fantastic features of the home to be proud of.  I have seen kitchen bins in all different shapes and sizes.   I've even seen one in the shape of a penguin with the beak being the lid - a bin!  I think it’s fair to say we, as a society, write radiators off but I cannot think why when there is potential.  

So, I got on the web to find radiator fanatics with something to inspire, and what I eventually did find, I loved!