 In summer 1881 , Morris took out a lease on the seven @-@ acre former silk weaving factory at Merton Abbey Mills , in Merton , Southwest London . Moving his workshops to the site , the premises were used for weaving , dyeing , and creating stained glass ; within three years , 100 craftsmen would be employed there . Working conditions at the Abbey were better than at most Victorian factories . However , despite Morris 's ideals , there was little opportunity for the workers to display their own individual creativity . Morris had initiated a system of profit sharing among the Firm 's upper clerks , however this did not include the majority of workers , who were instead employed on a piecework basis . Morris was aware that , in retaining the division between employer and employed , the company failed to live up to his own egalitarian ideals , but defended this , asserting that it was impossible to run a socialist company within a competitive capitalist economy . The Firm itself was expanding , opening up a store in Manchester in 1883 and holding a stand at that year 's Foreign Fair in Boston . 
