BA (Hons) Textiles and Surface Pattern

Module: 4VA012

Credits: 60

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to provide you with the time and space to develop more independently driven responses to project briefs and to support you to become more experimental and speculative in the production of your work. The emphasis, in this module, is on process and practice rather than end product. Throughout the module you will be encouraged to test new approaches and ideas and to reflect on the successes and importantly, the failures of your work. In tutorials and group reviews you will be asked to reflect on these experiences and to consider how you might learn from speculation and the feedback of potential audiences to re-think and re-work your ideas. This module also aims to introduce you to a range of models of practice and contextual knowledge that will help you understand contemporary art, craft and design practice and its relationship to society more fully. You will engage in subject specialist lectures and seminars and produce a range of creative and academic contextual assignments. Again the module aims to encourage you to organise your time effectively, work more independently and demonstrate the personal curiosity to find and evaluate contextual ideas alongside art, craft and design work that has a specific value for you and your work.

Module: 4VA009

Credits: 60

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to introduce you to the range of workshops, resources and staff working across the School of Art and to provide you with specialist making and media instruction. It is an intensive studio and workshop based module and throughout the year you will undertake a series of studio, workshop, software and material based projects that will provide a foundation for your developing independent work. As a Level 4 student in the School of Art you will be supported to make the leap between your prior educational experiences and full time art, craft and design practice. You will develop time management skills through structured tasks and increasingly you will be expected to make use of independent study hours to further test and progress your work in the studios and workshops. In this module you will also learn to document and record your work effectively and gain confidence in reflecting on your work in sketchbooks, journals, blogs, group reviews and tutorials in relation to a range of contextual ideas, artists, craftspeople and designers associated with project briefs and self-initiated work.

Module: 5VA011

Credits: 60

Period: 2

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This hands-on skills focussed module aims to advance your experience and knowledge of specialist making and material skills, providing you with the opportunity to explore and investigate a range of professional methods and creative techniques. You will be predominantly based in dedicated studios and workshops engaging with a broad range of practical demonstrations, workshops, master classes, seminars and group crits. You will expand on previous knowledge and work across a range of techniques from hand to digital production. Thorough research, experimentation, reflection and evaluation will inform and shape your advanced skills and develop into increasingly independent work that continues to reflect your design focus. You will develop a range of pertinent and effective communication strategies in relation to your advanced design practice in order to fully connect with external audiences and the wider context. Conceptual ideas, extensive market intelligence and product awareness will help to drive your practice.

Module: 5VA016

Credits: 60

Period: 2

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This design focused module aims to establish firm understanding of your subject through a series of projects with emphasis on your developing specialism. Creative research with an historical and global context will help to inform design decision making alongside extensive development of design methodologies in relation to the textiles/surface pattern subject and the broader context of Art and Design. You will be encouraged to explore a variety of approaches, risk take and adopt more speculative approaches in the development of projects whilst developing more in-depth knowledge of design for specific product outcomes. Opportunities for collaboration, live briefs and competitions are encouraged as you challenge design perameters and consider the requirements of your chosen specialist area . Your evolving practice within textiles/ and surface pattern design and its product translation will be supported by a range of opportunities to test and evaluate its effectiveness within a subject specific context and the wider arena of relevant industry. .

Module: 6VA018

Credits: 60

Period: 3

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This outward facing module equips you with the creative and academic skills required to pursue a career in the creative industries through a series of projects that are focused towards your design aspirations. It will provide you with a framework to identify, develop, resolve and refine original, creative and relevant practice outcomes and to investigate individual employment and enterprise opportunities and goals from your personal research. There will be focus on contextualisation of not only your own practice but in depth investigation of critical and contextual practitioners and theorists relevant to the fashion and textile arena and wider social contexts. You will explore and demonstrate thorough knowledge of a range of specific design concepts, contexts, methodologies and opportunities; embrace critical and creative thinking, experimentation and risk taking; evidence thorough reflection, evaluation, decision making and an informed understanding of your practice; and, develop fully considered, well documented and presented, creative responses to your self-initiated project proposal. Professionalism is essential in terms of gaining a key understanding of the market sector in response to live briefs and specific industry knowledge. This knowledge and information will guide you to collate professional presentation materials, develop effective communication strategies, identify and document valuable information and carefully plan your approach pertinent to your personal career ambitions.

Module: 6VA017

Credits: 60

Period: 3

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This self-negotiated or externally generated based module encompasses research, design and production with emphasis on independence and professional expertise. Throughout the module you will exhibit a high level of project planning knowledge with a keen understanding of market, product and context at the heart of your design decision making. At this level you will have developed a specialism in one particular area of the course: design for interior textiles, print for fashion or surface pattern. Idea generation, experimentation, risk taking and design development towards professional industry focused answers are central to this module. This mature knowledge of outcome in context within the Fashion and Textiles area is coupled with an understanding and problem solving ability through technical and practical skill resulting in a final body of work that is both highly appropriate to your chosen external audience and shows modernity, innovation and expertise.

This course is distinctive because it offers:

Traditional and New Materials and Processes

You have daily access to an impressive range of materials, processes and technologies related to the creative development of textiles and surface pattern design. The department has screen print facilities for fabric and paper, a dye lab, textile digital printers and presses for synthetic and natural fabrics, a stitch room and comprehensive hand-tuft facility for rug. Alongside this you have access to a wide range of workshops which could include printmaking, glass, ceramics, laser-cut and 3-D printing, wood, metals and plastics, allowing you to be highly exploratory and inventive in your use of materials to arrive at product outcomes.

Innovation

Due to the extensive specialist workshops, kit and technical expertise, students with an innovative forward looking approach to surface pattern can experiment and develop work that explores alternative surfaces and mediums to a highly professional standard

Independence and Creative Risk Taking

You will engage in self-directed research, work on exciting assignments and group projects with your own cohort and with other international clients, markets and professional agencies. Innovative approaches, newness and exploration are encouraged to fulfil these briefs to make these professionals take notice of your design solutions.

Employability

Preparing you for a dynamic creative career is a priority. Our course is designed to provide you with the best possible creative education centred on employability and student support. Live projects, industry focused briefs, guest speakers, bespoke career development sessions, creation of targeted promotional material, relevant portfolios and electronic resources all allow you to develop entrepreneurial attributes alongside possessing a highly appropriate skill base for careers in the creative industries

At each level, our yearlong modules allow you to experience and engage with projects of increasing complexity and varied timescales that reflect the breadth and flexibility of the commercial design world.

Staff Team

You will be taught by a friendly academic team who are practicing designers with extensive international industry experience and renowned researchers, professionally involved in a range of fashion and textiles related practice, exhibition and publication.

The member of academic staff who leads this course is Sharon Watts

Collaboration

The unique curriculum structure in the School of Art allows many opportunities for you to collaborate with other students. In your second year you will be encouraged to make creative collaborations with students from complimentary courses such as Interior Design, Illustration, Fashion or Furniture Design. You will be also able to liaise with the photography department in order to stylishly showcase your work in a photographic portfolio.

Studio Culture

Studios in the School of Art are open all week. You will have your own dedicated studio desk space within a warm friendly studio atmosphere. Alongside workshops and adjacent seminar spaces this is where you will be taught.

External Facing

This course keeps pace with the fast moving creative industry offering opportunities to exhibit professionally, attend and exhibit at trade events, participate in national and international competitions and catwalk shows promoting exposure of your work to an international audience. Work placements, national and international study visits and live briefs help you to establish skills that are essential to the needs of a global fashion and textiles industry. The option of a placement year will give you extended understanding of a global fashion and textiles industry.

History

The course was originally established to service the regional flooring/carpet industry and many graduates have established successful careers globally within this sector. The global flooring market is highly competitive and driven by technology and new trends in innovative floor designs and construction solutions. The textile and surface pattern course at Wolverhampton continues to engage in the flooring market and offers students a unique textile opportunity to develop work for this sector supported by expertise and traditional and new technologies. Long established relationships with Industry partners, for example, John Lewis, expose student’s work to a live audience. Students work in hand tufting, carving, peg boarding and use specialist carpet software. A specialist tutor ensures a rich and varied exposure to this fascinating area of interior textiles