Textiles Design with Business Studies BA(Hons)

How this course is delivered

We are designing your teaching timetable with the aim of maximising the time you spend on campus, with measures in place to make it as safe, enjoyable and social for everyone as possible.

Every student will have timetabled in-person learning. This will vary by course and could include activities such as seminars and tutorials, workshops, studio time, clinical skills sessions and laboratory classes.

Some of your timetabled learning will delivered online: for example, large lectures may be delivered online live and also be made available as recordings.

Our plans will be guided by the current government advice and may therefore involve some social distancing. Check our FAQs for more info.

Year 1

Year 1 introduces you to the three disciplines of knit, print and weave. You will then specialise in one area to fully explore and develop your skills in media and materials, textile design, construction and fabric realisation.

Modules

• Market Research and Business in the Creative Industries

  This module introduces you to and equips you with a range of transferable skills, qualities and attitudes that will prepare you for professional career paths in the creative industries. Through investigation and critical reflection, you will have the opportunity to develop your knowledge and appreciation of the scale and scope of the creative industries and begin to locate yourself, your interests and your practice within a vocational context.

• Introduction to Visual Research

  This module is designed to introduce you to a wide range of observational, investigative and experimental approaches to drawing and colour theory and other methods of gathering and developing visual research.

  The module initiates an understanding of the value of visual research to help enrich your vocabulary of colour, shape, texture, composition and idea generation/development and enable you to successfully produce sketchbook work to support your textile design development work.

• Textiles Rotation

  This module provides you with an introduction to the differences between knit, print and weave as individual specialisms and their respective industries. Your critical investigation will inform your choice of pathway specialism. You will be expected to focus on the technical aspects of each textile specialism to experiment and investigate these processes. Using the technical knowledge within each specialist project and visual research you will produce three collections of designed textile samples, one for each rotation.

• Textiles Specialism

  This module enables you to gain a greater understanding of the potential of your chosen textile specialism. A series of projects will develop your creative and technical abilities, extending your skills to explore and develop methodologies in visual and textual research encouraging an experimental approach to design within your textile specialism.

  The module also introduces you to relevant digital software packages and establishes fundamental digital design communication skills essential for design development and presentation within your textiles specialism.

• Design and Culture Under Scrutiny

  This module introduces key debates relevant to the analysis of the past and present in fashion, textiles and fashion communication. Through lectures, seminars and exhibition visits, you will be introduced to, and engage with, critical ideas and academic approaches relevant to your field of study.

  The module is designed to support studio work through the development of critical thinking and formal written skills.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Year 2

In year 2, design projects look at different textiles market sectors. The projects are diverse, include a live brief and will test your developing design skills. You will also build a body of design work and fabric samples to add to your portfolio.

Those specialising in knit will learn and use Designaknit software; weave students will learna and use Scotweave; and print students will learn and use Advanced Photoshop.

By the end of the year you will also produce a professional portfolio of design work in preparation for your optional placement year.

Modules

• Preparing for and Engaging with Business
• Technical Design, Process and Market Awareness
• Ethical Considerations in Relation to Industry
• Collaborative Experience and Portfolio Presentation
• Creative Collaboration in the Fashion Industry
• The Clothes and Fabrics of Society

Placement year 

You have the opportunity to spend your third year working in industry. The placement year in industry is academically assessed and your degree award will reflect your industry experience.  The placement is for a minimum of 20 weeks.

There is a compulsory professional practice module in the second year which will help you prepare for your placement. There's also a dedicated placement team to help you apply for a position. 

Students work for companies in the UK and overseas, particularly in Europe and the US, and there are opportunities to work for high profile designers and brands, trend and prediction agencies, textile design studios and fashion and textile manufacturers. 

It’s a great way to build on the skills you have developed on your course and to gain new ones

Final year

In your final year you will design and make a collection of textiles alongside a professional portfolio of design work. You will also complete an initial research project leading up to the final major project, and a full business plan. 

Modules

• Design Management and Business Plan
• Textiles Design Research
• Fashion Textiles Design Collection

Facilities

• Domestic, semi-industrial and industrial knitting machines
• Industrial linkers and embellishers
• Table looms, floor looms and 16-shaft power loom
• Screen printing and digital printing
• CAD CAM digital technology
• Dye lab
• Access to laser cutters
• Access to Mac suites
• Adobe Suite Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design and Premiere

Meet the team 

Our teaching staff are all experienced fashion and textiles professionals and academics. Tutors and technical staff will build your skills and confidence as an artist and designer, while also ensuring your work considers realistic commercial potential.

Natasha Mohide, course leader

Natasha has almost a decade of professional experience working as a woven textile designer in a varied range of roles and settings from large corporate design to small studios. She combines a career as an academic while running Shed Studio, which she founded in 2016. Shed Studio focuses on creating specialist designs for the fashion and interiors markets and smaller-scale special commission work.

Sustainability is at the core of Natasha’s work, particularly in weaving and woven textiles, their culture, heritage and application. Her practice-based research explores alternative materials in weaving and their properties, the capabilities of jacquard handloom with double cloth and 3D techniques.

Natasha has worked as a senior textile designer for Zara, woven textile designer and colourist for Vanners Silk Weavers and as a woven textile designer at Woven Studio. Read Natasha's full profile.

Other staff who teach on the course include: Dr Patricia Dyer, Phil Tyler, Leo Santos-Shaw, Dr Vikki Haffenden, Teresa Georgallis, Dr Caterina Radvan and
Charlotte Medin.

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio advice 

Online portfolio


Applicants who meet the minimum entry requirements will be asked to submit a portfolio via a link to the work or pdf.

This portfolio should include 20 pages or images showing an informed awareness of textiles and fashion, a good understanding of drawing, composition, form, proportion and colour, as well as three to five pages that show an understanding of visual research and the design process.

In usual circumstances you would have the opportunity to bring a physical portfolio to interview. As we are focusing on online portfolios this year, you may wish to use our guidance for physical portfolios as inspiration on what to include:

• 15–20 drawings and ideas on A1 or A2 sheets, not mounted onto heavy card or in plastic sheets
• your ability to develop an idea from concept through a wide variety of drawing and artwork
• your potential to experiment and explore ideas and techniques through a variety of media
• examples of life drawing
• two working sketchbooks
• awareness of contemporary fashion and textiles
• consideration of colour, pattern and texture.

Find out more about how to create and submit your portfolio.

Course fees

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,330 for UK students and £2,100 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included, whilst studying a course in the School of Art are listed here.

• For most courses you will need to budget for the cost of specialist materials, equipment and printing and are likely to spend between £50–£300 per year.
• Costs in your final year of study are very likely to be higher than in earlier years as you bring together your final body of work and portfolio, and you may need to budget between £200 and £1,000.
• For some courses you may also need to budget up to £100 for specialist personal protective clothing which, with care, will last for the whole of your course and beyond.
• For most courses you will have the opportunity to attend field trips and off-site visits, for example to galleries, exhibitions and studios both in the UK and overseas. These are optional and are not required to pass your course. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken, and typically range between £100 and £700 across the duration of your course.
• You will have access to computers and necessary software at City campus and at other locations across the university. However, many students choose to buy their own hardware – usually a laptop, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• Course books and a wide range of magazines and journals are available in the university libraries. You do not need to have your own copies, but if you wish to, you should budget up to £200 over your course to buy them.
• For courses in which there is an optional placement year, you will need to budget for living costs (rent, food, travel etc) in that city/country, as if you were on site at the university.

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships, as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2021–22.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

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