Textile Design students work with Liberty London to create collection based on a real-world muse
Published: 19/03/2021
The winning students will receive an exclusive trip to tour Liberty’s headquarters.
Second year BA (Hons) Textile Design students recently had the opportunity to work with iconic luxury British brand, Liberty London.
The students were briefed to select a muse for their work, imagining the fashion they wear, the interior in which they live, their personality and their life. Students then had to develop a colour story and a textile collection in response to their muse. The students had three product categories to choose from for their collection: fashion, accessories and embroideries, interiors, wallpapers and rugs or decorative textiles and artwork.
Liberty London are well renowned for supporting British artists and designers. The winning students will receive an exclusive trip to London to tour Liberty London’s headquarters and meet members of the team.
A team of students including Molly Francis, Francesca Power, Yas Sketchley and Arabella Uemlianin were announced as the winners for their concept focused on the muse Edith Sitwell.
Speaking about her experience of the project, Francesca Power said: “It was such an inspiring brief set by Liberty London, we selected Edith Sitwell as our muse, an English Dame, Eccentric, Poet and Aristocrat. We based our concept around Edith as the host of a surreal, gothic, slightly grotesque post-covid banquet.
The opportunity to work with such a prestigious British brand was so exciting. And our concept sought to really treasure that sense of heritage, sentimentality and luxury that Liberty is so well known for.
Francesca Power
Francesca also spoke about the difficulties of working on this group project remotely during the pandemic: "It was challenging to do an entire group project, never meeting in person, without any studio to use. However, we managed to collectively put our heads together, collaborate, share, encourage one another and having strong vision tied everyone’s work together. It’s personally given me such a boost in confidence, to be awarded winners by the Liberty Team. All our hard-work was so appreciated and understood by the team"
Fashion, Textiles and Knitwear lecturer Georgie Worker explained more about live projects and how they enrich undergraduate courses: “The live projects on textile design are always a highly rewarding part of the course experience. Given the additional challenges the students are currently facing we were inspired by the resilience, determination and creativity shown throughout the project. A team-based project in lockdown has given our students valuable experience of co ordinating and communicating targeted, creative responses to design briefs, and the value of effective teamwork. We are honoured to work with some of the best in the industry, and their generosity with their experience, time, and presenting opportunities, is appreciated and valued greatly.”