How did William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement influence Peter Behrens?

Peter Behrens, often considered the first industrial designer, was heavily influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.1

Morris championed the idea that art should encompass the entire man-made environment and that there was no meaningful distinction between fine and decorative arts. Behrens adopted this philosophy of "total design," extending the practice of controlling a designed environment—previously applied by architects to residential or royal projects—to the realm of corporate industrial production.231

This influence was further institutionalized through the Deutscher Werkbund, a society of artists and craftsmen modeled after English arts-and-crafts groups, of which Behrens was a leading member. While Morris sought to recapture the quality of medieval craftsmanship in response to the Industrial Revolution, Behrens adapted these principles to the modern age, serving as an artistic adviser for AEG to refine the design of mass-produced goods, corporate identity, and industrial architecture.14