Barbara Brown (b. 1932 Manchester) was trained at Canterbury College of Art and then at the Royal College of Art. She is known for her strong geometric award-winning designs from the 1960s and early 1970s, produced chiefly for Heal Fabrics Ltd. She taught printed textile design at Medway College of Art, Kent in the 1960s and at the Royal college of Art until the early 1990s.
Tom Worthington of Heal's Fabrics commissioned designers of the day to produce stunning fabrics during the 1960's. Barbara Brown was the most high-profile designer at the time, began supplying designs in 1958 after studying at the Royal College of Art. Her ability to work on massive scale suited the architectural aspirations of the period. Later she experimented with optical distortions, as in this textile. Her designs influenced a whole school of pattern-making, and many designers emulated her powerful gargantuan idiom. Barbara Brown said that she never consciously designs with either fashion or the commercial market in mind, but works more like a painter, in that her designs - all of which have a characteristic three-dimensional quality - evolve and develop over a period of time.
Jackson, Lesley 20th Century Pattern Design
59 x 120 cm framed
BB001