Textile Design (Hons) Norwich University of the Arts

Overview

Textile Design is a broad discipline with ever-growing opportunities. At Norwich University of the Arts, they celebrate traditional and digital making processes including knit, print, weave and embellishment for broad contexts and applications including fashion, interiors, transport, galleries and beyond. 

You’ll be unconstrained by specialism throughout the course and will explore design thinking across textiles processes, from original concepts to ambitious outcomes.

Key Features

As part of a supportive course community, students you will be supported to identify your personal and professional interests while developing creative, technical and industry skills. Establishing concepts, drawing and image making, pattern design, material sampling, draping and product design as well as collection development and final presentation / display will be key components of your project work.

Developing your own unique design language is encouraged throughout the course through concept development, making, and design resolution, embracing art, craft and digital media practices. Natural and synthetic colour, hard and soft materials and physical & digital contexts will be explored, with access to our excellent workshops.

You’ll design and make solutions for environments, bodies, and artefacts to drive change in how we all think about identity, inclusivity, wellbeing and textile consumption across this international industry.

Your commercial and industry understanding will be developed through live briefs, competitions, lectures and workshops with textile and fashion industry partners such as Habitat, Liberty, Ricamour, Colorifix, John Lewis, Next, Dulux and Norfolk Museums Service.

International competitions and external-facing briefs will enable you to design for different contexts, ensuring you are industry-ready by the time you graduate, with a distinctive portfolio and a strong professional creative identity.

Careers

Transferable skills are developed throughout the course, embedded within the learning experience to build your confidence and personal professional identity. Strong communication skills, negotiation, team-working and time-management are highly desirable employability skills which we help you to hone.  

Throughout the Textile Design (Hons) course you will be supported in learning about industry roles and professional attributes to support your career development. In your final year, you’ll develop a strategy for your future direction and showcase your skills and attributes through your portfolio.

Graduates have secured diverse roles in textile-related positions and beyond, including manufacturing companies such as Ivo Prints, Whitchurch Silk Mill and Standfast & Barracks and design studios including Next Home, Abacus Cards, Joules, and Bay and Brown. Many establish their own businesses, including Kalopsia Collective, Rachel Parker and Amelia Ellwood.

• Textile designer

• Designer maker

• Knitwear designer

• Surface pattern designer

• Product designer

• Buyer

• Stylist

• Illustrator

• Wallcoverings designer

• Visual merchandiser

• Materials researcher

• Interior designer

• Researcher

• Public artist

• Stationery designer

• Branding executive

• Conservator

• Graphic designer

• Installation designer

• Trend forecaster

• Event designer

• Art therapist

• Archivist