Textiles: Innovation and Designed

Our BA (Hons) Textiles: Innovation and Design degree offers you an outstanding, commercially relevant and innovative insight into the field of contemporary textiles.

It provides the opportunity to develop your skills through one of the 4 specialist pathways – Multi-Media Textiles, Weave, Print or Integrated Digital Practice, all of which are supported by excellent facilities, and technical expertise.

Textiles: Innovation and Design BA enables you to gain high level practical skills in design for Textiles, and offers you the opportunity to develop specialised skills in your second and third years through specialist pathways in Print, Weave, Multi-Media or Digital Practice. The course combines traditional and hand processes with digital technologies, and develops strong skills in drawing and making. The Textiles course has developed extensive links with industry, encompassing fashion, interiors, surface design and digital applications.

Individual studio spaces are provided for second and third year students, creating a dynamic working environment. First year students work in dedicated multi-purpose studio spaces to reflect the breadth and variety of learning opportunities offered. This is supported by exceptional facilities and specialist technical expertise that enables you to experience a wide range of opportunities in both traditional and hand processes through to the application of newer digital technologies.

We encourage you to make independent visits to galleries, exhibitions and museums and archives for project research. Loughborough is ideally located to visit exhibitions throughout the UK, with London being only 1 hour 20 mins on the train, and is in close proximity to East Midlands airport.

You'll also be encouraged to gain recognition and experience by entering industry renowned competitions. In recent years we have worked directly with H&M, Ted Baker, Romo Interior Textiles and Cotton USA on industry-set briefs, offering you relevant commercial experience. 

What you'll study

Textiles: Innovation and Design provides a stimulating creative environment in which you can develop practical, critical and conceptual skills necessary for high-level contemporary Textiles practice.

We aim to ensure that all students have broad first-hand experience of processes involved in the planning and production of contemporary Textile outcomes, whilst developing specialised knowledge aligning with current contextual requirements - Interiors, Fashion, Textiles Art, Research and the developing area of Digital Production. We encourage the development of significant skills in the practice of Design, Art and Craft informed by an awareness of historical and contemporary practice.

Year 1

Areas studied include drawing, introduction to modern and contemporary art and design, visual research, design development, and textiles process and exploration.

• Drawing: Discourses and Debates
• Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Art and Design
• Visual Research for Textiles
• Design Development for Textile
• Textiles Process and Exploration

Year 2

Areas studied include materials, processes and conceptual application, sampling and textile manufacture, and professional and business practice. You will be given the opportunity to select one optional module from a diverse School-wide list.

• Professional and Business Practice 
• Sampling and Textile Manufacture 
• Materials, Processes and Conceptual Application 
• Elephants and Engines: An Introduction to Creative Writing (Optional)
• From Print to Digital: Publishing Revolutions (Optional)
• Philosophy, Literature and the Arts (Optional)
• African American Culture (Optional)
• Material Culture (Optional)
• Creative Dissent: Protest, Activism and Art (Optional)
• Fashion Theory (Optional)
• 19th Century Bodies (Optional)
• Word and Image: Verbo-visual Exchange in Art and Literature (Optional)
• Non-verbal Communication: Body Adornment and New Technologies (Optional)
• Arts Management (Optional)
• Introduction to Multimodality (Optional)
• Costume Design (Optional)

Final year

Modules studied include Innovation, Exploration and Invention, Textiles Research Report, and a Textiles Studio Practice Final Project.

Applicants are selected on the basis of their UCAS application, and also a portfolio submission and interview in order to assess academic potential beyond that provided as part of the application. An interview also gives applicants the opportunity to visit the School, meet staff and students, see facilities and get an insight into what it is like to be a student at Loughborough.  Loughborough accepts a wide range of qualifications for entry.

What are the English language requirements to study here?

The standard University IELTS English language requirements is 6.5 overall with 6.0 in each individual element (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Some Schools/Departments may require higher levels of English language than those specified. The requirements needed, will be sent to you in your offer communication.

For Research Degrees, some Schools/Departments may ask for a higher standard of English language qualifications due to the nature of the research work involved. Details will be included in your offer letter if this applies.

For Undergraduate Degree courses, some Schools/Departments may require higher levels than those specified.  These higher levels are detailed, where relevant and more information can be found here.

Generally the English Language test should have been taken within the previous two years, but where the test is older, evidence of continuing use of English, whether in the workplace or elsewhere, in the intervening period may be required.

• International Scholarships for Undegraduate study

Future career

Recent graduates are presently employed as designers and buyers in major national and international Fashion and Interior companies.

They have also gone on to be stylists for Fashion and Interior magazines, and enter a whole range of other Textiles and Textiles related employment, whilst others are self-employed as freelance designers and textile artists.