Paint, Pattern, Print: The Joyful World of Collier Campbell
“To pick up a pen or a brush is a moment of optimism,” reflects textile designer Sarah Campbell. It is a sentiment that captures the spirit of Paint! Pattern! Print!: The Textiles of Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell, a new exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum, on show from 27 March – 13 September 2026 celebrating the extraordinary creative partnership of sisters Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell. Spanning more than five decades, their work transformed the language of printed textiles and helped define the exuberant visual culture of post-war design.
Susan and Sarah in the studio at 43 Old Town. © Sarah Campbell
The exhibition invites visitors into a vivid world of colour, nature and painterly mark-making. Through large-scale paintings, room sets, fashion pieces and richly patterned textiles, it charts the sisters’ journey from their early careers in the 1960s to Campbell’s ongoing practice today. Immediately recognisable, the Collier Campbell style was bold, loose and free-flowing—designs that retained the expressive energy of hand painting even when translated into mass-produced fabric.
Design for Liberty. © Sarah Campbell
Their story begins with a moment of remarkable confidence. In 1961, Susan Collier approached Liberty with a portfolio of designs; the store bought six immediately. As commissions increased, Sarah Campbell began assisting her sister, painting and developing patterns of her own before becoming a textile designer for Liberty herself. Together they set out to create designs that reflected the optimism of a new generation—colourful, modern and carefree.
Central to their innovation was a playful disregard for the conventions of textile repeats. The sisters spoke of “cheating the repeat”, developing techniques that allowed patterns to appear fluid and expansive rather than rigidly structured. Large paintings were translated into repeating designs that retained the illusion of continuous space, enabling fabrics to feel alive with movement.
Herbaceous Border, 1974. © Sarah Campbell
Nature proved an endless source of inspiration. Lush florals, birds, insects and landscapes appear throughout the exhibition, including the celebrated design Côte d’Azur. Evoking a dreamlike Mediterranean view of balconies, palms and radiant blue skies, the design—shown here as a full room set with curtains, wallpaper and rugs—suggests a painterly interior reminiscent of Henri Matisse. Other works, such as Herbaceous Border (1974), were inspired by the spectacular garden at Great Dixter.
Bauhaus printed cloth for Liberty of London Prints, 1972. © Sarah Campbell
While their designs often drew on the natural world, Collier Campbell also explored abstraction. Their dynamic Bauhaus design, created in response to a 1968 exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, revitalised Liberty’s printed silks with bold colour and all-over pattern inspired by the textiles of Gunta Stölzl.
Fashion designers quickly recognised the vitality of their work. In 1972, Yves Saint Laurent drew on Collier Campbell’s gypsy-inspired patterns for his first ready-to-wear Rive Gauche collection, while Bill Gibb incorporated their painted stripe Quickstep into his 1974 summer designs. Dresses, skirts, scarves and jackets featured throughout the exhibition reveal how seamlessly their patterns translated from interiors to fashion.
Gipsy Dance, 1990. © Sarah Campbell
The sisters were also pioneers in business. At a time when textile designers—often women—remained anonymous behind the products they created, Collier and Campbell took control of the entire process: purchasing cloth, overseeing screen-making and managing production. In 1979 they formalised their partnership as Collier Campbell Ltd., ensuring their names remained attached to their work.
Collaboration played a vital role in their success. In 1974 Terence Conran commissioned designs for Habitat, bringing their vibrant patterns to the high street. Further partnerships followed with companies including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis & Partners and Jaeger.
Cottage Garden, 1977. © Sarah Campbell
Upstairs, the exhibition turns to Campbell’s continuing work following Susan Collier’s death in 2011. Her studio practice remains rooted in painting, increasingly exploring hand-painted textiles that allow colour and pattern to be placed freely across cloth. Recent collaborations include ceramics and tableware for Anthropologie and West Elm, as well as a special reissue of her 1970s design Cottage Garden to celebrate Liberty’s 150th anniversary.
Through reconstructed studio spaces, archival material and immersive interiors, Paint! Pattern! Print! reveals two designers united by a shared vision: that colour, pattern and painting can bring joy into everyday life. As Campbell puts it, “Fabric and pattern have such a lot of emotion attached to them.” In this exhibition, that emotional power unfolds in radiant abundance.
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Further Information:
Paint! Pattern! Print!: The Textiles of Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell is on show from 27 March until 13 September 2026 at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Cote D'Azur artwork, 1990. © Sarah Campbell
All images have been provided by Sarah Campbell courtesy of the Sarah Campbell / Susan Collier archive. (All rights reserved)