A style of embroidery championed in the 19th century by designer William Morris, a key figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. Morris felt that the Victorian obsession with Berlin woolwork was responsible for the decline in needle skills, and instead promoted more traditional techniques, which were often inspired by nature and influenced by historic textiles from Italy, Iran (then Persia) and Turkey. Art needlework was also supported by the establishment of the Royal School of Needlework in 1872, which aimed to restore “Ornamental Needlework for secular purposes, to the high place it once held amongst decorative arts”. Experimental work inspired loosely by Art needlework was produced by Jessie Newbery, an embroiderer and teacher at the Glasgow School of Art.