Haptic & Hue and Gray MCA have collaborated to make a new film about the visionary textile designer Barbara Brown in celebration of her 90th Birthday. It’s the first time she has spoken about her life, the influences that led her to become a textile designer, what inspired her, and the ideas she was trying to express in her extraordinary work.
Barbara is one of the most renowned textile designers of the mid-20th century. Her strongly geometric work was the very essence of 60s art and style and today is highly sought after by collectors. This film explores her life as a designer and talks to Dame Zandra Rhodes who was taught by Barbara Brown, and Ashley Gray, an expert on British and American textile design.
“Galleria” screen-printed cotton, Barbara Brown for Heals Fabrics Ltd.1969
“Sweetcorn”, screen-printed cotton, Barbara Brown for Heal & Son Ltd.1958
Film Quotes:
Dame Zandra Rhodes: “She looked very exotic. She wore black jet jewellery and her hair was sort of probably Victorian style. And I think I was very, very influenced by her in my early school days. I would say that Barbara’s responsible for me being a textile designer.”
Barbara Brown: “I just loved doing sculpture and I loved drawing. But they said, no, you’re a woman. You can’t do sculpture. You have to be a textile designer, you know, you did what you were told then. And so I became a textile designer.”
Ashley Gray: “There are key people at key moments who are able to personify critical moments of cultural change. And to my mind, Barbara is that personification“.
The film runs for 35 minutes and costs £5.16 to rent, You can view it, here.
If you are a Friend of Haptic & Hue, the film is free to view as part of your membership. To get a VIP code for this, log in to your Friends account and find out how to access it on the page for this film. If you would like to join Friends of Haptic & Hue you can do this here.
‘Gyration’ for Heal & Son Ltd. 1971
‘Spiral’ for Heal & Son Ltd. 1969
‘Intermission’ for Heal and Son Ltd, 1960
‘Expansion’, for Heal Fabrics Ltd. 1966
‘Galleria’, for Heal Fabrics Ltd. 1969
‘Recurrence’, for Heal Fabrics Ltd. 1962.