London College of Fashion | Liberty
As part of the Women in Print: 150 Years of Liberty Textiles exhibition at the William Morris Gallery (WMG), Liberty partnered with the gallery’s Young People programme and students from the BA Fashion Textiles: Print course at London College of Fashion, UAL to explore the relationship between identity and design.
Inspired by the women featured in the WMG exhibition, students were invited to consider how an artist’s background, experiences, and sense of identity can shape their creative language. From colour and technique to subject matter and style, they were encouraged to look closely at what makes a designer’s work distinctive before turning the same lens on themselves.
The resulting brief challenged students to develop three original print designs that expressed their own designer identity, drawing inspiration from Liberty’s design pillars including florals, abstract and geometric forms, Arts and Crafts, and conversational prints. The designs were developed for a Spring/Summer 2028 womenswear collection, with students encouraged to build a strong concept from initial research and moodboards through to design development, colour, and final visualisation.
As part of the project, students visited WMG and Liberty’s London design studio, where they had the opportunity to explore the exhibition and gain insight into Liberty’s approach to print design. The three final prints were developed using AVA CAD/CAM, with students creating three colourways for each design. Alongside their final designs, students documented their technical development, print samples and sketchbooks. The final designs were presented to the Liberty design team for an in-person critique, offering students a valuable opportunity to receive feedback from designers working within the industry.
Four students were selected as winners: third-year students Luther Hewett and Joanna Cox, and second-year students Mingxi Yang and Rosaline Zheng (Ziqing Zheng), all studying BA Fashion Textiles: Print at London College of Fashion.
As part of their prize, the winners were invited to Liberty’s Head Office for a Liberty Experience Day, joining winners from other UK art and design institutions. The day offered an introduction to different areas of the fashion and retail industry, with talks covering subjects including branding, social media, buying, legal and intellectual property. The winners also received a Liberty goody bag, AVA Certified Training Course and three metres of digitally printed fabric from LCF Digital Print to support their final-year work.
The project offered students the opportunity to look at Liberty’s archive and creative heritage through a personal lens, while developing their own visual identities and gaining an insight into the journey from design education to the creative industry.