https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5764-9279
Dr Helena Britt is the Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Textile Design at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA). Responsibilities include programme coordination and management, teaching printed textiles, supervision, assessment and research. Current and past research projects use archive and practice-based methods, oral testimony and exhibition curation to investigate themes that interconnect creative processes, designing, making and art school pedagogy. Ongoing research examines how textile designers reinterpret design practices, motifs and procedures to generate new work.
Currently collaborating with Panel and Fraser Taylor on 'Instant Whip: The textiles and papers of Fraser Taylor 1977-87 Revisited' working with partners GSA Archives and Collections, the Reid Gallery and Print Clan, supported by Creative Scotland and The Hope Scott Trust. An exhibition, publication and outreach programme in March-April 2024 will present archive material donated by Taylor to GSA's Archives and Collections alongside new work. The archive includes items related to Taylor's time as a student at GSA, the Royal College of Art and connected to the ground-breaking collaborative studio The Cloth, formed by David Band, Brian Bolger, Helen Manning and Taylor in 1983. The project outcomes explore printed textile design, interdisciplinarity and recurring links to Glasgow as a place of creativity during the period 1977-87.
Findings and insights from a research fellowship project surrounding Taylor's archive and the working practices and creative outputs of The Cloth, funded by The Leverhulme Trust, inform the Instant Whip project. Investigations surrounding The Cloth continue. Funding from The Textile Society enabled the initial cataloguing and digitisation of Taylor's archive, supported by GSA. Previous work investigating the evolution of UK textile design higher education, designer educator roles and GSA's Fashion Show links to this body of work.
As Principal investigator, working with Duncan Chappell (GSA Library), 'Interwoven Connections: The Stoddard Templeton Design Studio and Design Library, 1843-2005' was funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Design History Society and GSA. Findings increased understanding of carpet design in Scotland by examining the workings of the Stoddard Templeton design studio, particularly the use of the design library, now a GSA Library special collection.
Previous collaborative projects are with Alan Shaw (Centre for Advanced Textiles) and Susannah Waters (formerly GSA Archives and Collections) to uncover the work of post-World War II female pattern designers represented in GSA's archives, resulting in a collection of digitally printed textiles and an exhibition series.
Interests in digital printing evolved while studying and practising printed textiles, leading to doctoral research. This thesis argued that undertaking creative practice is critical for textile designer educators working in an increasingly digital age due to the significant benefits of engagement in this activity.
Research interests for supervisory responsibilities encompass historical and contemporary textile design, printed textiles, archives and collections, creative arts education, research-teaching linkages and practice-focused methodologies. Support for research includes PhD and MRes supervisor, external examiner, Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice co-editor, Association of Fashion and Textile Courses (FTC) Steering Group and AHRC PRC member.
