ABSTRACT
The design of carpets had long been a contentious issue for manufacturers and reformers alike. In 1856, J.G. Crace, the well-known decorator, noted in a written response to a lecture given at the Society of Arts. Nearly forty years later, and reflecting the concerns mentioned by J.G. Crace, Alexander Millar maintained ‘that so far as carpets are concerned, our art-training schools are not sufficiently in touch with manufacturers, to their mutual disadvantage’. Millar was a carpet designer and a co-partner in the Scottish carpet manufacturers Templeton’s between the years 1884 to 1899. He was influenced by the arts and crafts movement and at some point, worked with the Silver Studios for carpet designs. Millar also wrote a further four major articles in the Art Journal 1908 on carpet making.
