Print designer Natalie Gibson MBE is noted for her love of colour; by her own admission, she is a ‘magpie’ with an affinity for pattern and prints. From her time at the Royal College, where she studied textiles, through her work for Sir Terence Conran’s Habitat in the early 60s to her current projects in China and India, Gibson’s work has been defined by optimism and an irrepressible joie de vivre.
Since 1964, Gibson has taught at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, where she developed the fashion print programme in 1980. Hundreds of students have trained under Gibson’s time as course leader; her influence and network in the world of fashion cannot be underestimated. Some of the greatest names in British fashion have studied with her, designers such as John Galliano, Sarah Burton, Stella McCartney, Stephen Jones and Craig Green amongst many others.
Her seminal work for Conran captured the mood of the times as well as her own distinct view of the world. Saturated colours of pink, orange, purple and blue – often in analogous or contrasting combinations – defined a series of pop-inspired motifs that characterised her work: hearts, flowers, dots. The graphic clarity of Gibson’s work has remained a constant; a printer’s palette and a painter’s eye coming together to create a unique, and uplifting, body of work.