News at Warner Textile Archive

Abbey Swan, University of Essex, on her placement reorganising the Warner Textile Archive’s Library and Reference Collection, and tracing The Journal of Indian Art back to Lot 22 at a 1978 Christie’s auction.

How nine forgotten patchwork blocks, made from 1980s Warner & Sons textiles collected by former Archivist Mary Schoeser, were finished by volunteer Chris Helm into a vivid double bedspread now in the Warner Textile Archive.

Jess Flewitt, on a Museum Work Experience Grant funded by The Costume Society, explores the fragile Victorian passementerie in the Warner Textile Archive’s dress and costume collection.

Isabelle Crawford, History undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, on making enclosures for 1950s designs on paper and the worn beauty of Giraud’s ‘Anna’ design at the Warner Textile Archive.

Louise Dickins, University of Essex MA History student, on researching Hans and Isabel Tisdall, Marianne Straub, Ernst Aufseeser and Tamesa for the Warner Textile Archive.

Isobel Abbott-Dethrow, University of Essex MA student, on researching Edward Bawden and John Aldridge for the Warner Textile Archive, and the family ties that connect her to the Great Bardfield Artists.

Abbey Swan, University of Essex Heritage and Museum Studies MA student, on researching Helios designers Otti Berger and Felix Löwenstein for the Warner Textile Archive.

New Designers July 2026In July 2026, the Warner Textile Archive team attended New Designers at the Business Design Centre in London, one of the UK’s leading showcases of emerging talent. Bringing together more than 2,500 graduates from over 100 higher and further...

The Costume Society: Museum Work Experience GrantWe are pleased that our collaborative application for The Museum Work Experience Grant from The Costume Society was successful with Jessica Flewitt. A dedicated volunteer at the Warner Textile Archive, this extended...

The Sun and The Moon: Art Inspired by the Celestial is a major exhibition held at the Saatchi Gallery exploring how the two most powerful phenomena in the sky have inspired creativity, curiosity, and belief throughout human history and across different cultures.

Nineteen Fashion Design students from Anglia Ruskin University have completed a collaborative project exploring the relationship between historical design and contemporary fashion with the Warner Textile Archive.

Another successful collaboration between The Warner Textile Archive and the design students from Anglia Ruskin University on the Live Brief Project.