Barbara Brown

Textiles Designer (1932-)

Born in 1932, Barbara Brown studied at Canterbury College of Art and then the RCA.

Before leaving the RCA, Brown had sold her first fabric to Heal’s and subsequently designed for them for the next two decades. Like Lucienne Day, she was working for Heal’s ‘without contract on an exclusive basis’, (Harris, 1985, p.35). Her ‘Complex’  pattern won the CoID Award in 1968 and ‘Spiral’ and ‘Automation’, two printed furnishing fabrics for Heal’s, won two CoID awards in 1970. Brown also acted as a consultant for other companies in Europe and USA. In 1964, she created ‘Focus’, a pattern for a range of ceramic tableware designed by David Queensberry and made by W R Midwinter Ltd. Brown taught in the 3D design department at Guildford school of Art in Guildford, Surrey and Hornsey College of Art in Crouch End, London.

Further reading:

• Lesley Jackson, The Sixties: Decade of Design Revolution, 1998.

Original image reference: GB-1837-DES-DCA-30-1-POR-B-93-1. Design Council Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.