While the museum is sadly closed, we are always on the lookout for opportunities to bring our collections to you, wherever you may be. For some of us at the moment that place may be a desert island with a lot of potential to be an up-and-coming resort. For those in the know it can only be the (very escapist) game of the moment Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch games console. This social simulator game allows you to design your home and island to suit your every interior decorating desire. And so of course, for us, the only suitable wallpaper to use is that of the celebrated 19th century designer William Morris whose work features prominently in our collection.
This is possible thanks to the launch last week of the Getty Museum image converter (built on a long-standing pattern conversion tool ) which now uses IIIF to import images into the converter, turning them into a pattern for use in the game, as wallpaper, flooring or clothing. The resolution is somewhat limited, so some designs work better than others.
For those of you who are interested in the designs for their island homes in Animal Crossing, the QR codes for six of the best Morris designs in Animal Crossing are below. To import them into your game you will need to (see the full details of the import process in the Getty Museum blog post):
- Install the Nintendo Switch app on your smartphone and associate it with the Animal Crossing game
- Scan the QR code of the wallpaper you prefer (or all of them!)
- Open up the Custom Designs app in your Nook Phone
- Download the design and save it to your Nook Phone
- Apply the design to your walls, your clothes, your floor or just hand it up in a frame.
William Morris Wallpaper design Ceiling Number 155
William Morris Wallpaper design Garden Tulip
William Morris Wallpaper design Powdered
William Morris wallpaper design Daisy
William Morris wallpaper design Trellis
William Morris wallpaper design Bird and Pomegranate
For those of you interested in interior design for your real home, and with some time on your hands, don’t forgot we have a book available with all these patterns and many more: V&A Pattern: William Morris by Linda Parry.
