Welcome to my blog, I hope you find it of some interest!
I believe strongly in the potential for design and creativity to transform lives and enhance our everyday experiences with people, places, spaces and objects. The utility or beauty of an object or space impacts us, bringing functional design, experience and aesthetics to our lives. I am an advocate for lifelong learning and the role education can play in building opportunities, confidence and social identities. I combine my design practice with an academic career, currently Associate Professor in Design / Course Leader for BA (Hons) Textile Design at Norwich University of the Arts.
I am currently working on a print design and production practice-based research project exploring the potential of block rotation for the addition of colours in repeating design work, building on the design principles of Josef Frank and Lewis F. Day. In December 2024 I launched a geometric pattern collection with the Window Film Company, inspired by this pattern research.
Having trained in printed textile design and book art in the mid 1990s, I have worked on a broad portfolio of commissions, exhibited drawings, prints and artist’s books and carried out residencies including at NHS trusts and National Gallery of Scotland. I have launched collections under my own brand: Plot to Plate (2012), Construct (2015) and Threads (2016), working with manufacturers including Formica, the Window Film Company and Surface View. I also license pattern designs for fashion and interior applications.
Commissions I have undertaken for public spaces include designs within an international airport, hospital and school, demonstrating my enthusiasm to engage with diverse audiences and contexts through the surface designs I create. Collaborations with leading manufacturers have resulted in me taking interiors and accessories collections to a global market, gaining international press and stockists.
I have a particular interest in bespoke pattern design to visually communicate brand identity and place. Clients / projects include a bespoke fashion print for Japanese lifestyle brand Stamp and Diary, posters & limited edition prints for Transport for London / London Transport Museum, a retail collection of products for the Barbican Centre London, pattern design for tea-towels for David Mellor Design celebrating their cutlery, and site-specific large-scale surface designs on roofscapes at the QE hospital in Birmingham.
My work is in international collections including Tate, British Library and Yale Centre for British Arts, USA. I make works on paper as unique and limited editions while designing patterns for surfaces including textiles, laminate and beyond. The book form as a site for visual and structural narrative is of particular interest to me. I collaborated with publisher Design for Today, creating a sculptural artists’ book celebrating Edward Bawden’s love of gardening.
My design practice runs in tandem with my academic career. In my role as Course Leader at Norwich University of the Arts, UK, my aim is to develop future thinking graduates prepared to make a positive difference. I have created a strong course identity in partnership with industry peers to provide professional networking and delivery of live briefs and have established industry awards that provide a step up for students in becoming industry-ready graduates. I am a Steering Group member of the Fashion and Textiles Courses Association and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I love to learn the specifics of designing for specific applications across the creative sector, understanding production methods or commercial constraints and therefore maintain a two-way dialogue with my ever-growing industry network to inform my educational interests and responsibilities, while providing opportunity and support for students and industry partners.
My academic practice-based research explores the notion of pattern communication as narrative through printed design structures. This combines my interest in traditional pattern making, cultural heritage and contemporary design opportunity. I write and present research at symposiums and conferences, including presenting for the Royal Town Planning Institute about taste and aesthetics, the Motif Tsunami at Nottingham Trent University about pattern as motif potential and recent FTC Futurescan conferences.
I wrote a design book for Bloomsbury Publishing on the subject of printed pattern for interiors, published in early 2023 and available to buy now.
I hope you enjoy my posts! Thanks for visiting…
@katefarleyprint
Kate Farley - drawn to design 