ABSTRACT
French born Auguste Willms came to Britain in 1848, and he was soon employed by the metalworking business of Elkington & Co. Against the backdrop of British fears about French superiority in the decorative arts, Willms had particularly noted the difference between the education of designers in France and England and the role of the art school in these distinctions. The necessity that something should be done for English industrial art has been kept before the public during more than half a century. Its Annual Directory sets forth that it seeks to aid, as fully as possible, the study, on the part of the artisan and industrial section of the community, of such subjects as are considered necessary for the assistance of these particular classes. For many years "taste" in matters relating to industrial art has been as much the fool of fashion as in matters of millinery.
