Summer Show: Surface Pattern and Textiles

Jasmine Brindley

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. “Leves Erbere” is a spring/summer collection inspired by the Bloomsbury Group and the inspiration they have on art and fashion. This highlights heritage, luxury, art, nature and freshness.

With an interest in a career in trend and forecasting, Jasmine enjoys gathering information through current or archive exhibitions. Exploring the links between art, interiors, fashion, colour and her surrounding space and location, showcasing information through visuals or analytics.

Jasmine enjoys every element; from research, design, experimentation to final creations, seeing the evolution of her project and where it takes her.

• Linktree: Jasmine Brindley

Susan Down

MDes (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. “Beneath Familiar Skies” reflects on returning to Thailand, a place Susan once called home, through a renewed perspective. The collection weaves together childhood memories and the experience of revisiting, capturing the culture, mood and essence of the place. Her designs explore the contrasts between nostalgia, identity and heritage. 

Susan is driven by exploring textiles, materiality, and pattern making within fashion and interiors. Enthralled by the escapism that design and creativity provide, she combines traditional skills such as painting and drawing with digital processes to push the boundaries of design and creative expression. 

The enjoyment she finds in painting and drawing, specifically in seeing her initial sketches transform into completed patterns, which then come together to form a cohesive and captivating collection.

• Linktree: Susan Down

Emily Elias

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. Motivated by capturing a timeless design language, Emily’s practice focuses on embracing contemporary processes with a classic flare. Influenced by the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, she is driven to produce highly decorative outcomes that uphold a sustained life trajectory beyond trend cycles, to increase circularity. 

In this collection denim is reimagined as an innovative interior furnishing and Emily’s creative enquiry celebrates the empowering qualities of the contemporary feminine. The motifs adorning the collection, take provenance from the ancient craft and symbolic language of Kilim. Through addressing themes of strength, protection and good luck to produce modern heirlooms, that promote deeper intrinsic connections and sense of belonging. 

Emily is fascinated by the power of pattern and print, and it’s translational potential across differing materials. Immersed into a world of visual wonder, she is empowered by the breadth of skillset and versatility being a surface pattern designer offers.

• Linktree:  Emily Elias

Emerald Goldsworthy

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles.“Botanical Heritage” is based on the grandeur and highly detailed ornamentation of baroque design. Emerald is drawn to the border designs of frames and mirrors and is inspired by the structure of those patterns built from natural imagery. The aim was to create a print wallpaper collection based on experimentation with new techniques. 

Emerald is inspired by nature and the environment and uses this to create motifs. She enjoys using the variety of equipment and techniques to produce outcomes from the different resources available. Emerald is always interested in how different colour palettes can elevate a collection of patterns. 

Emerald particularly enjoys the wide range of projects involved in surface pattern including interiors and fashion. Each project demands a different area of expertise enabling Emerald to promote herself as a multidisciplinary designer. 

• Instagram: @golds.designs  
• Linkedin: Emerald Goldsworthy

Nia Lloyd-Jones

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. Nia’s final major project explores the lifecycle of botanicals, particularly the idea that nature always finds a way to regenerate following loss which has personal connotations. The rich and opulent colour palette brings the designs to life for functioning wallpaper, fabric, and decorative elements for commercial prestigious interior spaces. 

Nia is proud of her Welsh language, heritage and creative lineage, having used the creative skills passed down and advanced these with contemporary techniques and innovation studied during the course. Nia now wishes to fulfil her passion as a collection designer for interiors creating beautifully designed repeat patterns for a multitude of different surfaces. 

Nia is a maximalist designer who embraces mixed media surfaces to playfully tell stories about personal life journeys. She has a strong inclination toward reusing fabrics, breathing new life into materials with sentimental value by giving them a fresh purpose through thoughtful design. She enjoys layering techniques which include dyeing, screen, digital and UV printing, laser cut and embroidery to create contemporary pattern designs. 

• Linktree: Nia Lloyd-Jones

Faye Kennedy

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. ‘Echoes of Absence’ invites viewers to look up at surrounding architecture and consider it’s history. It is a celebration of ornamentation, exploring the disconnect between architecture and decoration and how it has changed over time. Faye has focused on sentimental buildings that have been destroyed and rebuilt brick by brick, such as Groes Chapel in Port Talbot. Her motifs were inspired by the decoration that has survived within the architecture and extends the details within chinaware used in this time period, such as Wedgwood china. Her ambition is to create a space for the echoes to speak once more. 

Faye’s practice is often influenced by contemporary society as well as nature. She loves surrounding herself in nature and the outside world, which is often very present within her work. She focuses on combining both digital and analogue processes. With a passion for Laser cutting and screen-printing, she loves to see her patterns evolve through process. 

Faye feels empowered being a surface pattern and textiles designer. It allows her to explore her creativity and apply it to patterns at an industry level. Faye enjoys the versatility of surface pattern and how it can be applied across multiple disciplines and products, with focus on colour, materiality and narrative. 

• Linktree: Faye Kennedy

Mini Sharma-McLachlan

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. ‘Wild Waters and Highland Wonders’ is derived from Mini’s Scottish heritage and recent adventures through Scotland’s rural landscapes. Inspired by the abundance of beauty seen within the highland mountains and surrounding wetlands, Mini has designed an interior collection consisting of wallpaper and furnishing fabric that emphasise Scotland’s rich profusion of wildlife. 

Specialising in printmaking, Mini’s practice is driven by the connection between craft and wellness as she uses hand driven processes throughout her work as a form of meditation. Inspired by fauna and flora, the natural world underpins Mini’s designs as she emphasises the importance of our connection to rural environments. 

Mini loves being a surface pattern and textile designer as it enables her to see her ideas come to life and how they can be used within industry, fuelling her passion for design further. She particularly enjoys how traditional artisan practices such as lino carving and printmaking can be translated into pattern. 

• Instagram: @mini.sm_design
• Linkedin: Mini Sharma-Mclachlan

Laura Miller

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. “Inis” (pronounced in-ish), is a tribute to Ireland’s rich storytelling tradition. Irish folklore is intrinsically tied to the land, and through Inis, Laura explores this bond, translating the myths and narratives of her heritage into tactile, evocative textile designs. 

Originally from Derry, Northern Ireland—a city with a rich textile heritage, through her work, she explores the intersection of heritage and innovation, crafting designs that honour tradition while embracing modern aesthetics. 

Her practice is multidisciplinary which enables her to create innovative and adaptable designs, although primarily designing for a fashion context, but her portfolio also includes interiors. Her expertise includes lino and screen printing, as well as appliqué, and hand embroidery. Drawing inspiration from nature, folklore, and abstract textures, Laura translates these influences into tactile, modern surface designs that engage both visually and texturally.

• Linktree: Laura Miller

Aimee Rayner

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. ‘Flow and Flourish’, captures forest bathing and wellbeing walks in an immersive display of sensory textiles. Combining biophilic design, and colour psychology, this work translates Aimee’s creative state of flow into beautifully wild artwork fit for public installations, mood boosting fashion prints, and playful interiors, encouraging feelings of calm, comfort and wellbeing. 

For her own wellbeing, Aimee is inspired by humanity’s symbiotic relationship with the natural world, and how nature can heal and repair our minds and bodies as we take care of it as a community. Driven by her experience as a Health Care Assistant during Covid, Aimee wants others to feel a sense of belonging and feel cared for, as they explore her immersive and tactile work. 

Weaving the joy that Aimee feels when she creates, into designs that bring joy to wear, live in and experience, is what Aimee loves most about being a surface pattern designer. If, through her work, she can make you to feel that happy sigh when your toes first touch the sandy beach, or when you surround yourself in a carpet of bluebells in spring woodlands, she feels she has done her job well. 

• Linktree: Aimee Rayner

Lily Staniforth

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. ‘Tales from the Tides’ delves into the intricate relations women have with the sea, drawing rich inspiration from her childhood spent along the Yorkshire coast. Through her unique illustrative style and vibrant colour palette, she reimagines tales and memories from the sea, transforming them into lively and expressive pattern designs that resonate with a contemporary lifestyle brief. 

Lily’s love for patterns is evident in her creations, as she captures the essence of the British coastlines which inspires her. She embraces techniques such as screen and lino printing, skilfully blending traditional craftsmanship with modern aesthetics. Lily loves to bring joy to the viewer, bringing them a sense of happiness through her designs, her vibrant colour palettes and drawing style. 

Lily finds empowerment in traditional skills such as painting and drawing, valuing the rich history and techniques that accompany them. She is particularly fascinated by the process of transferring her designs onto fabric and the exciting possibilities of working with various materials. 

• Linktree: Lily Staniforth

Freya Henderson-Wright

BA (Hons) Surface Pattern and Textiles. ‘The Morbs’ is a textiles project aimed at the fashion runway which has been inspired by the Victorian era. Elements of this collection include a hybrid of morbid curiosity, superstitions and romance which has been inspired by aspects from the era. The collection uses an array of luxurious textured fabrics that complement each other when layered. 

Freya’s main design drive is storytelling. They believe every collection and pattern should have a strong narrative similar to fine art. Freya is often inspired by storytellers in fashion for example Alexander Mcqueen. With a passion for fashion, textures are important to their practice. Freya believes that tactile touch tells a story within itself. 

Freya thrives on learning new things such as techniques and always wants to learn more. Freya’s favourite thing is the process of design, they enjoy how an initial mood board can turn into a collection, which then becomes an exhibition. Freya feels a proudness when they see progress from start to finish. 

• Linktree: Freya Henderson-Wright