Textiles Design

‘Made in Britain’ is a label sought after throughout the world.
The UK textile industry offers graduates an opportunity to work with businesses that range from fashion to interiors. On this course you’ll learn practical, professional and entrepreneurial skills that equip you to work as part of a team, or even set up your own business. British textile design has a worldwide reputation for originality, creativity and innovation. At Arts University Bournemouth we will encourage you to fully embrace this long-standing tradition by providing the opportunity for you to become part of the next generation of distinctive, skilled and inventive designers and makers.

What you will learn

AUB will provide you with the opportunity to become a creative textile designer/maker within this exciting and innovative global industry. Here emphasis is placed upon individual creative reflexive practice, investigation into processes and techniques practice, exploring both visual and theoretical principles in the investigation of colour, texture and pattern, through experimentation with drawing, dye, print, stitch, CAD, fabric construction and manipulation, towards the development of tactile materials found within the discipline of textiles. Our intensive, creative and industry focused course will support your emerging aspirations by providing you with a breadth of technical skills and the knowledge required to produce professional outcomes.

Our vision is to inspire and encourage you to mature as autonomous and individual textile designers and practitioners through the exploration, reflection and refinement of your practice, which will enable you to position yourself at the forefront of the creative textile industries. We will, therefore, support you in your experimental and formal engagement within this field, through the exploration of both usual and unusual materials, the expected and unexpected processes. Historical and contemporary contextual studies are embedded throughout the curriculum. This diverse subject area strengthens practice by challenging intellectual enquiry and informing your creative development. Critical inquiry will support conceptual thinking, with practical, ethical and sustainability issues being central to your learning, enabling you to become a conscientious and responsible designer of the future.

An understanding of the professional practice of a textile designer/maker, and the demands placed upon them, will be paramount. Awareness of this rapidly changing profession is supported through industry set briefs, competitions, live projects, student led placements and engagement with textile professionals from the course’s extensive industry links.

By the end of the course you will be able to...

• Deploy a critical and systematic understanding of techniques, processes, and skills required for contemporary textiles practice.

• Apply developed and effective visualisation, making and problem-solving skills through the research and production of both traditional and innovative textile works.

• Deploy a critical and reflective understanding of historical, cultural, ethical and contemporary debates in relation to your own practice.

• Locate and communicate your practice in relation to appropriate and related professional career choices.

• Apply critical self-reflection and independent research to the development and management of your textiles practice and transferable skillsets.

• Describe and communicate effectively, the ideas, development and concepts underpinning your creative practice to multiple audiences.

Year 1: Learning to Learn – practical units to establish ways of designing and making textiles.

Year 2: Learning to Break the rules – Innovation and Industry based units.

Year 3: Learning to show off – Personal projects to establish your design identity and direction for employment in creative textiles.

Coursework and practical work