Curious about studying Textile Design - BA (Hons)at Birmingham City University? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
City Centre Campus (The Curzon Building)
Full Time
Sep 2027
3 Year
Textile Design explores the potential of fibres, yarns and processes to create cloth and materials with distinctive qualities and properties. It is a highly creative field with the potential to impact and enrich all aspects of our lives. Knowledge in this area is key in making informed choices that will reduce the environmental and social impact of products, and can be used artistically to raise awareness and inspire behavioural change. Our course nurtures fresh thinking and industry-ready designers and practitioners with expertise in the craftsmanship of Textile Design across the disciplines of Print, Weave, Knit, Embroidery and Material Innovation. The exciting potential of cross-disciplinary practice is supported and encouraged, giving you the option to either specialise or combine disciplines, embracing both digital technologies and traditional craft skills. Through experimentation in dedicated textile workshops equipped with cutting-edge industry fa-cilities, you will develop the specialist skills, knowledge and experiences required to thrive in a growing field of industry roles and opportunities. Creative play and problem-solving is at the heart of learning and you will be guided by passionate and experienced staff as you discover your own personal expression through the language of design – colour, pattern, surface, texture and image. Birmingham is a vibrant and multi-cultural city providing exposure to diverse perspectives and opportunities. Our inclusive creative community prioritises and celebrates individuality, empowering and supporting you to embrace and embed this within your practice. Career-focused teaching, industry live-briefs and integrated work-placements within the first two years of study will support you in identifying professional aspirations amongst the breadth of opportunities within textile design industry and other related fields. Choice points help you focus your experience and collaborative opportunities build your confidence and professionalism. You will develop a portfolio of responsible and future-thinking design concepts to drive the industry’s transition to a circular sustainable economy and build healthy communities. In your final year, you will have the autonomy to celebrate your individual practice and interests. Our Next Step module at the end bridges the gap between study and industry, helping you plan to achieve your ambitions within the support of your university network. You will graduate with a clear vision of where you personally fit in the industry and a tailored professional portfolio to get started. Our award-winning graduates emerge as innovative practitioners leading the way working for prestigious established brands or as influential entrepreneurs.
Professional Placement YearThis course offers an optional professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, following successful completion of your second year, and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies. If you choose to pursue a placement year, you will need to find a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. You will be able to draw on the University’s extensive network of local, regional, and national employers, and the support of our Careers teams. If you are able to secure a placement, you can request to be transferred to the placement version of the course.
In this module you will explore the connections between the creative fashion and textile industries in the past, and how this informs present and future trends. You will be introduced to the way individuals have influenced culture, freedom of expression and experimentation, and how this pushes boundaries and explores identity. Through reflection you will analyse your research and the connections that you discover, developing core skills and communicating your findings and ideas through the use of industry-standard software. Shared content is delivered via blended learning, this is underpinned by your course-specific content which is delivered on campus.
This module introduces you to the first two areas - printed and knitted textiles. Printed textiles tend to be more about image and surface qualities and knitted textiles is more about yarn and construction. The contrasting experience will help you to discover where your strengths and interests lie. Workshop demonstrations will introduce you to the process of screen printing and the use of domestic knitting machines to build your knowledge and understanding through hands-on making. As minimising waste and keep materials in circulation for longer is important, you will be sourcing and integrating excess materials into sampling, choosing them for their colour, surface, texture and structural potential. You will be generating a range of experimental ideas, considering their potential within the world of fashion.
This module continues to focus on experimentation with materials, processes and colour to build core skills and your awareness of the scope of our discipline. It introduces you to the other key approaches to textile design – Embroidery and Weave. Embroidery can be more about image, surface and textural qualities, and woven textiles is more about fibre, yarn and structure. As with the previous module, the contrasting experiences will help you to discover where your strengths and interests lie, whilst continuing to design with the world of fashion in mind.
The ability to put original ideas into an effective repeating pattern is core knowledge demanded by industry, and this module introduces you to the world of pattern creation, looking at compositional structures, theories, and the impact of colour, scale, rhythm and balance. There are a variety of textile-specialist software and equipment involved in textile design and production and digital technologies have a key role to play in reducing the resources involved in the sampling and development. Adobe Photoshop remains the key program for pattern creation. You will start the module by forming a personal concept and generating original, versatile imagery for pattern exploration. You will then test a range of compositional structures and problem-solve ideas using paper-based and digital approaches, including tablet-based drawing programs, Adobe Photoshop and AI.
Industry needs creative problem-solvers who can help implement sustainable design strategies that ensure that people and planet are considered equally alongside profit. For this module your starting point will be a tailored garment. You will begin by considering its likely production journey, undertaking research to explore its potential social and environmental impact. You will use a lifecycle approach and learn about systems-thinking to gain awareness of the complex nature of our industry and the different sectors that exist within it. You will also see that the decisions textile designers make can make a significant impact in minimising a products negative impact.
This level 5 undergraduate module is designed to equip students with the essential skills and knowledge necessary for a successful transition into the industry work placement and beyond. The module focuses on cultivating a deep understanding of professional practices, industry expectations, and personal development strategies. Through a combination of theoretical knowledge, practical exercises, case studies, and industry guest lectures, this module provides students with a solid foundation for their future careers empowering them to thrive in a competitive and dynamic industry landscape.
Level 5 is all about EXPLORATION. There are lots of exciting sectors, markets and job roles open to Textile Designers, each involving slightly different challenges, work requirements and skill sets. There is a demand for designers who can help drive change to build an industry that is sustainable and contributes to an inclusive and equitable society. This module focuses on Birmingham and the West Midlands offering a range of mini-briefs that simulates different design sector scenarios to help you begin to consider your place within industry and the contribution you can make.
Industry wants confident, informed, original thinkers who have the capacity to be both imaginative and pragmatic. What is your skill or what do you want to be known for? What have you been introduced to so far that you are curious to revisit and take further? What talent have you discovered that you want to nurture? In this module you will identify your strengths and interests to build distinctiveness and originality to your creative practice and portfolio.
This Level 6 undergraduate module is designed to further develop your research and inquiry skills within the context of the fashion and textile industry. You will undertake a range of research methods on a topic of personal interest. You will investigate and critically analyse the findings. You will be applying a reflective comment to the evidence to deepen your understanding of your field and considering real-world challenges in the industry. You will present conclusions and recommendations in a proposal that feed into an independent project.
Building on the research you have undertaken in the previous module, in this module you will write and execute a practical brief, one that enables you to immerse yourself in the materials, processes and approaches that make you shine and generates portfolio content that targets your career ambitions.
This module is about selecting and progressing key ideas from the portfolio of work presented in the previous module, undertaking focused design development to realise their potential as impactful resolved design statements. This may involve problem-solving aspects like: material sourcing, scale, composition, colour and application.
What now? What next? This module is the culmination of the research and design outputs of the last three modules and provides a supportive space to plan your transition between education and employment. In this module you will, strengthen your portfolio, build an online promotional presence and formulate an action plan, all designed to help you navigate the next step towards your career ambitions.
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