The Darmstadt artists’ colony was founded in West Germany in 1899 by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig von Hessen of Darmstadt, grandson of Queen Victoria and the last ruler of the formerly independent state, which became part of the German Empire in 1871. Ernst Ludwig was one of the most influential of the new patrons of contemporary architecture and design movements in the early 20th century. He was familiar with the English Arts and Crafts movement because of his frequent trips to England and his having already commissioned Baillie Scott in 1897 to design furniture and interior decorations for the dining and drawing rooms of his palace at Darmstadt. C.R.Ashbee was invited to design the light fittings, and his Guild and School of Handicraft in London was asked to make both furniture and fittings. The colony was a response to a memorandum prepared for the parliament and important local people by Alexander Kock, proprietor of a local wallpaper factory. He and others acknowledged the important ro...