BA (Hons) Textile Design

Why study this subject?

Fashion and Textiles is one of the largest sectors world-wide and continues to offer exciting and rewarding opportunities globally. Providing us with identity, comfort and shelter, textiles are the material that we have our closest relationships with, literally clothing our bodies from head to toe, or surrounding our homes with stimulating colour and tactility. Textiles are the very fabric of our everyday environment, so why not learn how to design them?

This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

With a history of delivering expert craft, art and design education for more than 130 years, Buckinghamshire New University is the perfect place to start your creative career.

As part of the Art, Design and Performance School at BNU, you’ll benefit from a practiced-based course, supported by contextual studies. You’ll also have the opportunity to work collaboratively across the school with other courses, ensuring during your studies you are building a varied network, like you would in the real world.

Led by a dedicated and experienced course team, you’ll benefit from their industry knowledge and the industry links they bring to the course. You’ll get direct access to guest lectures, who are specialists in the sector, and can benefit from live project briefs, master classes, and networking opportunities. As a member of the British Fashion Council, UKFT and WGSN our students are supported by industry to reach their full potential. 

We’re proud of the many achievements of our students and staff and throughout your course you will have the opportunity to take part in international competitions, including British Fashion Council reviews, exhibitions and the BNU Summer Show.

We’re also only 30 minutes by train into London, enabling you to visit exhibitions, shows and watch emerging styles from one of the world’s fashion capitals.

Our fashion and textiles programmes are ranked 3rd best in the UK (The Guardian University Guide 2023) and we celebrated 95% overall student satisfaction in the 2022 National Student Survey.

Stay updated with all our latest BA (Hons) Textile Design news by following us on Instagram @bnu_textiledesign.

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

What facilities can I use?

We’ve spent a lot of love and care making the Fashion and Textile Studios the perfect creative space and one of the best-equipped workshops in the country. We are extremely proud to be able to offer industry-standard studios, technical machines and high-quality equipment to our fashion and textile-based courses.

You will master materials, both through traditional methods and using digital software. This includes an in-house fabric and yarn store, screen printing facilities, a dye laboratory and sewing and garment production facilities.

In our professional-working studio you’ll have you own workspace which you’ll be able to turn into your own personal area, where you can bring your designs to life and surround yourself with inspiration.

We also have specialist technicians and demonstrators on site to support and share their knowledge with you, when and if you need it.

As well as this you may also have the chance to access to our photography, film and tv and drama studios where you’ll be able to work collaboratively with photography, performance and hair and make-up students to build your portfolio, and network like you would in the industry.

What will I study?

Textile design is a fast-paced and engaging industry, this course allows you as a designer to work with a variety of different elements including colour, materials, pattern, structure and composition. 

Focussing on three core areas, print, knit and surface design, you’ll explore design led projects, here you’ll develop your research, drawing, colour, design and workshop technical skills. You'll get taster projects in each of the textile practices, and once you know which one suits your creativity most, you can start to specialise.

Designed to provide a wide range of craft and digital making skill, this course will teach you the knowledge and skills you need for employment, whilst also giving you a deep understanding of theoretical, analytical and social contexts.

The programme focuses on exploration of a range of creative and technical approaches, including innovative drawing methods, the use of trends, CAD for design and presentation, specialist techniques; including material knowledge and experimentation, as well as problem solving skills.

Textile Design has a long and successful history of developing highly skilled and creative graduates from Buckinghamshire New University. The course team have a broad range of current industry practice, which enables a range of project opportunities, both, live and studio based that challenge you to be versatile and adaptable in this highly competitive industry.

Upon graduation you’ll be a confident, highly skilled designer with an individual approach to your discipline, which will be reflected in your portfolio.

Industry Connections

With regular visiting lectures and workshops led by industry this is just a snapshot of our connections.

WGSN – Guest lectures by WGSN provide the latest consumer and design trends product design and consumer forecasts, curated data and industry expertise to help innovators create the right products at the right time for tomorrow’s consumer

The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters – Our students are invited to apply for the Student Bursaries & Awards scheme which encourages students in further and higher education to take an interest in the knitting/knitwear industries by entering an annual competition for bursaries and awards, currently to the value of £3,000 and £1,500 respectively.

Bradford Textile Society – the Society’s annual Design Competition is open to student studying on our textile based courses here at BNU. There is a total prize money of over £17,000 and is unique in its breadth of coverage that attracts almost 1,000 entries from students throughout the UK.

British Fashion Council – The Fashion Design course is a member of the British Council collages organisation which allows the students to work on industry-led briefs and competitions and guest lectures from brands such as Burberry, Topshop and Armani, Stella McCartney and many others.

UKFT – During 2020-21, UKFT provided masterclasses and extended industry connections with the fashion design course. We were one of just five UK providers chosen to take part of the Made it collaboration.

How will I be taught and assessed?

The BA (Hons) Textile Design degree encompasses a wide variety of teaching and learning methods.

Most of this degree is studio-practice based, here we aim to create the ethos of a professional real-world environment. As Textile Design student you’ll have to complete a series of modules and projects during your time spent studying with us. Projects are designed to present new challenges to you as you progress through the course. By the end of your time with BNU, you’ll benefit from a full portfolio, and collection, to go to employers with.

We also aim to provide masterclasses and industry brief opportunities for you to apply your knowledge, skills and understanding into real-world contexts, whilst gaining feedback from current industry-leaders. For previous projects, we've collaborated with Dulux, Gerflor, Tengri, Jane Bowler, Bradford Textiles and The Society of Dyers and Colourist,  and many more.

You’ll also be assessed though; 1:1 or small group tutorials, lectures and seminars, portfolio and presentations, written assessments, sketchbooks, group critiques and self-directed study.