Discover textile history, tradition, design and making at our spring series of displays, talks and workshops. Organised to coincide with the exhibition Josef Frank: Patterns–Furniture–Painting, the Festival aims to illuminate contemporary practice and open minds to the ways in which textiles enrich lives.
Enjoy workshops in print, silk painting, tapestry, draping, pattern cutting, crochet, drawing, dyeing and block printing. Speakers on the Thursday Lates programme include textile designers Neisha Crosland, Sarah Campbell and Roger Oates discussing their textile practices alongside historical talks on Dutch Wax textiles, William Morris, Jacqueline Groag, Tartan and Tweed.
One of the highlights of the Exhibition and Displays programme is an opportunity to view the Zandra Rhodes Archive Collection. Unlike many designers of her era, Dame Zandra Rhodes DBE (b. 1940) has kept a sample of her designs since she established her fashion house in the late 1960s. The archive includes clothing, accessories, textiles, print screens, kodatraces, sketchbooks, fashion illustrations, photographs and ephemera. This wealth of material is continually referenced by Rhodes: her work has always evolved organically and prints are often reworked or reinterpreted.
In 2016, Rhodes collaborated with the stylist Grace Woodward (b. 1976) to create the Archive Collection. This group of historic dresses was selected for their stories as much as the look – a dress chosen by Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) is included in the collection.
A hint of subtle updating in silhouette and fit freshens the collection, maintaining its place in Rhodes’s past but making the dresses current. The Archive Collection features 10 designs and was produced in 2016 in association with Ruth and Tom Chapman at Matches Fashion.