Vintage Gleneden textile designs on show at Heritage Quay

Selections from an archive of vintage textile designs dating back to the 1950s that could inspire today’s budding designers are on display in a new exhibition called ‘Patterns Of Play’ at the University’s Heritage Quay.

The archival materials and designs on show are from Gleneden, the Carlisle-based woven textiles company that operated from 1955 to 1990, and which were donated to the University in 2005.

Gleneden’s colourful designs, ranging from the geometric to the floral, were popular in domestic use when manufactured as jacquard woven cloth. Now Matthew Taylor, Subject Lead for Fashion and Textiles, hopes  the new display can inspire current students and visitors to use the collection as a jumping-off point for their own ideas.

“The Gleneden Archive is an invaluable resource for our textile design students. These are historic design documents and quite mysterious as they are rarely signed or dated. I consider it to be a ‘living archive’ as it can be engaged with in many ways. We have had responses from surface design, textile, and craft practitioners, musicians, artists, knitters, weavers, printers, and embroiderers. I hope to continue to explore its ‘creative play’ potential in workshops with people of all ages.”

The display features some of the more than 1,000 A1 sized design prints from Gleneden held in the Heritage Quay archive, along with marketing materials, interpretations of the designs from Matthew and recent Huddersfield students, workshop materials, and items, such as coffee cups and water bottles, using the designs.

The display is available to view for free at Heritage Quay, which is open Monday to Friday 8am – 7pm, and Saturdays 9am – 5pm, until 25 May 2024. The collection and outcomes of previous workshops can be explored at www.glenedenarchive.co.uk