Gimson was brought up in the city of Leicester but he spent some of his happiest days exploring the surrounding countryside. He was not a healthy child and, as in many Victorian families, a number of his brothers and sisters had died young. Fresh air and outdoor pursuits were considered beneficial and whenever possible holidays and weekends were spent in the countryside. The one surviving childhood notebook is full of precisely observed descriptions of birds and animals, and plants and flowers. In June 1877, when Gimson was thirteen, he wrote to his elder brother, Sydney, from Quorndon, a village about 10 miles north of Leicester on the edge of the Charnwood Forest, where the younger members of the family were staying with their mother. He described the joys of walking through streams, sheltering from rain under hedges and watching pheasants and doves in the natural habitat.
Throughout his life he enjoyed walking in the country. He would carefully observe plants and flowers, draw from nature and then adapt his drawings into designs for a variety of media.
Gimson’s designs for plasterwork or embroidery are characterised by rhythmic repeating patterns and flowing lines. His patterns for inlays on furniture capture the essence of the flower or plant but are much less fluid. For metalwork such as candle sconces or firedogs, his designs had to be simplified, with hard-edged cut-out shapes and chased or stamped lines. He was very clear that the process of design started with looking at a plant or flower and drawing it but then adapting the drawing to a design that suited the medium. This was the way many Arts and Crafts designers worked following the example of William Morris.
