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Crafts Study Centre

The Crafts Study Centre moved from Bath to Farnham to the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College in April 2000. The new gallery includes exhibition space for the collection and archive together with study facilities.

The collection concentrates on British printed and woven textiles from 1900 to the present day and is extensive and informative. It includes work by influential figures such as the weavers Ethel Mairet, Elizabeth Peacock and Rita Beales, and the hand block printers Phyllis Barron, Dorothy Larcher and Susan Bosence. In addition to fabric and garments, there are sample books and crafts people's working notes. These give an insight into the design process, showing how ideas were developed, altered and followed through. In the case of Barron and Larcher they illustrate how different dye techniques were used to create amazing results and the wonderful lengths of fabric that were made into furnishings and garments.

The Study Centre aims to provide a teaching resource for colleges and schools involving primary material, and by developing an understanding of the lives and work of artist craftspeople from the twentieth century onwards looks to encourage contemporary crafts practice. Thanks to a grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England's Joint Information Systems Committee 4,000 images from the collection and archive will be available over the world wide web when the Crafts Study Centre opens in Autumn 2003. Teaching and learning packages are being developed and there will be a full programme of exhibitions and events on offer.

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