Moorcroft WILLOW WOODS 2 Rose Plaque PLQ3 Retail Price £690 Charles R Mackintosh

The Willow Wood plaques came to life as designer, Vicky Lovatt created her own elegant female figures, inspired by the work of Margaret Macdonald. Vicky discovered a photograph of Margaret in an Art Deco outfit, including a wide headband with a heart at its centre, taken by her husband, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Margaret was inspired by poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s work including his Willowwood sonnet collection. In 1903, the words from one sonnet, together with Margaret’s creative imagination, lead her to create the gesso panel, O Ye, All Ye Who Walk in Willowwood, in the Salon de Luxe in the original Willow Tea Rooms. Today, the gesso panel resides in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Vicky’s design marries Mackintosh’s image of Margaret, together with Margaret’s interpretation of Rossetti’s words to perfection in a pair of plaques that embody the world of Art Nouveau that the Mackintosh’s created.