Textiles

Ancient techniques, inspiration and innovation

The Crafts Study Centre’s textiles collections can be divided into three main areas: printed textiles, woven textiles, and embroidery. The Centre holds the major collection of work by Phyllis Barron (1890–1964) and Dorothy Larcher (1884–1952), two of the leading hand-blockprinters of textiles working in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. The furnishing and dress materials which this unique partnership produced are noted for their innovative designs printed in subtle colours on quality materials. Also included in the printed textiles collection are pieces by Enid Marx, designer of posters for the London Underground, book illustrator and author; Joyce Clissold of the Footprints workshop; and Barron and Larcher's protégé Susan Bosence. The hand-woven textiles collection represents a broad spectrum of makers in this medium, from Ethel Mairet, whose workshop in Ditchling in Sussex was seminal in the training of a whole generation of weavers from the 1930s and 1940s, to Rita Beales, to the renowned linen weaver Rita Beales, to later work by Peter Collingwood and Amelia Uden. The embroidery collections are small but nonetheless significant, including table linen worked by May Morris and embroidery by the Cotswold-based artist Eve Simmonds.

Clicking on the links below will display a curated selection of work by each maker - there may be further examples in the collection.

Makers in the CSC collections

• Ablett, Dorothy (Woven)

• Ash, Beryl (Printed)

• Barron, Phyllis (Printed)

• Barron and Larcher (Printed)

• Beales, Rita (Woven)

• Beales, Percy (Woven)

• Benjamin, Stella (Woven)

• Beutlich, Tadek (Woven)

• Biddulph, Nora (Woven)

• Blee, Kate (Printed)

• Bolton, Janet (Other technique)

• Bosence, Susan (Printed)

• Bourne, Hilary (Woven)

• Brassington, Linda (Printed)

• Breed, Hilda (Woven)

• Brock, Ursula (Woven)

• Clissold, Joyce (Printed)

• Collingwood, Peter (Woven)

• Crofton, Kate (Woven)

• Crompton, Rebecca (Needlework)

• Davenport, Elsie (Woven)

• Davis, Esme (Woven)

• Dickinson, Gladys (Woven)

• Edwards, Jilly (Woven)

• von Etzdorf, Georgina (Printed)

• Farmer, Mary (Woven)

• Freeman, Susie (Other technique)

• Goetzee, Monique (Other technique)

• Greaves-Lord, Sally (Printed)

• Griffiths, Joyce (Woven)

• Gospels Workshop (Woven)

• Hartree, Sue (Woven)

• Harrison, Diana (Printed)

• Hindson, Alice (Woven)

• Hoather, Barbara (Woven)

• Holdgate, Margaret (designer) (Printed)

• Hooper, Luther (Woven)

• Kendon, Margery (Woven)

Find out more

Pioneers and their practice: textiles by Margot Coatts

Hand-blockprinted Textiles: Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher by Margott Coatts

The Peter Collingwood Ethnographic Collection by Jean Vacher

Thirteen weavers