Placement Overview

Ingrid Wagner is a writer, a painter, a photographer and a designer with a background in the theatre, in dance and in film editing. Her passion for travel and love of different cultures is the inspiration for her business creating rugs, wall coverings and paintings for clients. Ingrid creates a range of vibrant textiles from her studio, based on the travel experiences of her clients.

Generic Job Description for a Textile Designer

Textile Designers create designs for a broad range of commercial and artistic products that are made in fabric or textiles. They use a range of methods including knitting, weaving and printing to create two-dimensional designs.

The two major fields that Textile Designers work within are interiors, such as rugs, carpets, curtains and bedding, and fabric for clothing. However their designs can be seen in others fields such as car upholstery and industrial protective clothing.

A Textile Designers duties might include; liasing with customers to plan and develop ideas, producing sketches to illustrate ideas, presenting ideas to clients, using Computer Aided Software (CAD) to produce designs, producing the final product, sourcing fabrics and other materials, researching and analysing the market, marketing and selling their textile products.

Skills:

• Creativity
• Artistic
• An understanding of materials and dyes
• A strong eye for colour and texture
• Good communication skills for presenting and selling ideas
• Problem solving skills
• Excellent market knowledge 

Pay:

• Entry £13,000
• £28,000 for a Textile Designer with three to five years experience
• £40,000 or more for design directors in large companies or self-employed Textile Designers  

Please not that salary figures are a guide only. Actual salaries may vary depending on the organisation and geographical location

Hours:

• Typically Monday-Friday
• Overtime and evening work is common to meet deadlines 

Environment:

• Typically based in a studio or workshop
• Locations include factories, purpose built building and design studios
• Many self-employed Textile Designers work from a studio at home

Qualifications:

• No formal entry requirements
• A degree in textiles, fashion, art and design or other relevant subjects may improve chances of employment
• Most degree courses require five GCSE passes grades A-C and two A-Levels
• Creativity and talent is more important than qualifications 

Training:

• Training is often on-the-job
• Short courses are available in technical and creative skills and processes
• Continued Professional Development (CDP) is available with the Chartered Society of Designers (CSD)
• Textile Designers can work towards an NVQ level 3 in Design

Opportunities:

• Opportunities exist with companies that produce clothing, soft furnishings and other textile based products
• Competition for vacancies is fierce
• Opportunities are concentrated around London, the North West, the Midlands and Scotland 

Links:

www.interiortextiles.co.uk - British Interior Textiles Association

www.craftscouncil.org.uk - Crafts Council

www.design-council.org.uk - The Design Council

www.ccskills.org.uk - Creative and Cultural Skills – The Sector Skills Council for the Creative and Cultural Industries