Ornamentation is . . . even a higher art than that practiced by the pictorial artist, as it is of wholly mental origin." —Christopher Dresser Dresser's ideas on ornament are in part based on his botanical training, as recorded in his writings, notably The Art of Decorative Design (1862). Promoting mottos such as "Knowledge Is Power" and "Truth, Beauty, and Power," he prescribed that the designer obtain the "knowledge" to successfully unite science with art by analyzing and interpreting the inner structure, or "truth," of natural forms and plants in order to create new and unique abstract patterns of beauty. Beginning in the 1860s, Dresser's studio, comprised of himself, his assistants, and pupils, collectively developed numerous designs for household items for principal British manufacturers, including Minton, Wedgwood, and Coalbrookdale. He claimed in 1871 that he had "much the largest practice in the kingdom." Dresser was successful because he understood the demands of a growing middle class for well-designed, inexpensive objects and, concurrently, their Victorian passion for novelties, their love of the grotesque and medieval, and their craving for Japanese patterns.