Out of the Blue

The Fashion and Textile Museum is currently hosting an exhibition – Out of the Blue – celebrating the work of influential design company, Designers Guild. Founded by Tricia Guild OBE, Designers Guild started life in 1970 as a small section of a single shop in Chelsea’s Kings Road and has since grown into a global enterprise. Tricia has collaborated with artists and designers from other disciplines including Howard Hodgkin (1986); Kaffe Fassett (1993-5) and more recently Ralph Lauren and Christian Lacroix. She has also designed collections under license for The Royal Collection inspired by the interiors of the British Royal Family’s residences. 

Out of the Blue explores Tricia’s creative approach, from her sources of inspiration to the processes she chooses. Visitors will be able to see how Tricia takes inspiration from her travels to India, Japan, and Scandinavia and translates this into collections of fabrics, wallpaper, furniture and accessories. Designers Guild is perhaps best known for florals and botanicals, but plain fabrics in a multitude of shades and textures, alongside a vast range of geometric and abstract designs, are also vital to the mix. With a broad array of designs display, the exhibition showcases the variety and re-invention that is central to the ethos of Designers Guild.

The exhibition highlights the techniques and processes vital for making these collections happen. How the company has explored various printing methods in the quest for innovation – from hand block printing in the early days, to rotary screen-printing and most recently digital printing. Visitors will see how traditional methods of production, from cut velvets and embroidered brocades, to flocking on fabric and paper have been re-imagined by Designers Guild.

Offering unique access to Designers Guild’s archive, with never before displayed original designs and art work, Out of the Blue showcases the story of Designers Guild in settings that capture the changing tastes in interiors over the past five decades.

For more information about the exhibition visit www.ftmlondon.org