Surface Pattern and Textiles

The Surface Pattern and Textiles programme at Swansea College of Art, UWTSD is a vibrant, multidisciplinary programme that focuses on an exploration of textiles, materiality, pattern, and making. Our focus spans various contexts, including fashion, interiors, and design-led galleries. The course is both academically challenging and has a contemporary outlook, ensuring you gain a comprehensive education in this dynamic field.

Throughout your studies, you will develop a wealth of practical and technical skills. You will enjoy the design potential of our extensive, innovative digital and traditional facilities. This combination of cutting-edge technology and time-honoured techniques provides a well-rounded foundation for your creative journey.

We bring our students together to create a strong group identity, while allowing you to choose a specialism that aligns with your interests and career goals. The studio culture is central to the Surface Pattern and Textiles student experience. This professionally focused, collaborative learning environment mirrors the workplace, promoting a positive, engaging, open approach to working with others.

Graduates of our programme emerge as skilled designers and makers, ready to excel in a variety of creative jobs and enterprises. The integration of significant live projects, exhibition experiences, and industry liaisons into our curriculum is a defining feature of our course. These projects have been conducted with esteemed collaborators such as Rolls Royce Bespoke Interiors, H&M Design, Eley Kishimoto London, Hallmark UK, and Orangebox. Such experiences ensure you are prepared to enter the creative industry with confidence and competence.

Our dynamic programme is built to evolve alongside the industries you will enter. Employability is at the heart of what we do, ensuring you are well-prepared for the professional world. The course also includes live briefs and opportunities for competitions, further enhancing your readiness for industry challenges.

Our facilities support various creative processes. You will have your own dedicated studio space and access to our excellently equipped workshops with a wide range of facilities including a textile screen printing room, dye studio, printmaking, digital application suite, Mac suites providing industry standard software, laser cutters and a sewing room, providing comprehensive hands-on learning opportunities.

The Surface Pattern and Textiles programme at UWTSD offers an engaging and comprehensive education, preparing you for a successful career in the creative industries. With a focus on both traditional and digital techniques, extensive industry connections, and a strong emphasis on employability, this programme is the ideal choice for aspiring designers and makers.

Modules

Year one is teaching intensive, introducing you to a variety of new ways of learning, a breadth of material processes, visual studies practice, and forward-looking design thinking. you will build foundational skills in textile design, focusing on pattern, materiality, and making. You will explore various techniques, including digital and traditional methods, while developing a strong understanding of design principles and research. This year introduces key concepts and practices essential for your creative journey.

Compulsory

Ways of Thinking (10 credits)
Ways of Perceiving (10 credits)
Visual and Material Culture (10 credits)
Image Making 1 - Drawing for Design (10 credits)
Major Studies A1 - Ideas into Practice (20 credits)
Major Studies A2 - Designing for Context (20 credits)
Digital and Material Futures B1 (20 credits)
Digital and Material Futures B2 (20 credits)

The second year expands your technical and practical knowledge through advanced projects and specialised modules. You will engage with live briefs and industry collaborations, enhancing your professional skills and creative thinking. This year focuses on developing your personal design identity and preparing you for real-world applications in fashion, interiors, and beyond. Contextual studies develop your understanding of historical and contemporary art and design theories and prepares you for the Independent Project module in year 3.

Compulsory

Research in Context (10 credits)
Research in Practice (10 credits)
Image Making 2 - Drawing for a Live Brief (10 credits)
Visual and Material Language (10 credits)
Major Studies A3 - Designing for a Live Brief (20 credits)
Major Studies A4 - A Self Directed Brief (20 credits)
Digital and Material Futures B3 (20 credits)
Future Ready Toolkit (20 credits)

In the third year, you will refine your expertise and focus on professional practice. You will undertake significant live projects and exhibition opportunities, working closely with industry partners. This year is dedicated to perfecting your portfolio and ensuring you are industry-ready, with a strong emphasis on employability and entrepreneurship.

The focus of Year 3 is to contextualise your studio practice in response to your personal preferences, your skillset, your strengths and ambitions, your scope for innovation, and your external and live project experiences to date. This is done through a significant personal major project and another live project. The Independent Project module contextualises your studio practice through an extended piece of writing and offers you the opportunity to delve more deeply into the ideas and concepts that you are investigating.

The year culminates in a body of work or design collection that fully expresses your creative journey as a designer or maker, exhibiting as part of the Degree Show.

Compulsory

Independent Project (40 credits)
Major Project (60 credits)
Advanced Creative Enquiry (20 credits)

https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/programme-courses/undergraduate/art-design-and-photography/surface-pattern-and-textiles-full-time-0