Print in Focus: Liberty’s New Fabric Exhibition

Delve into the world of fabrics with our latest exhibition space, where three of our most iconic Liberty fabric collections will be highlighted every six weeks

By: Team Liberty

It’s no secret that Liberty’s print archive is the beating heart and soul of Liberty. With over 50,000 textile designs in the trove, the archive is a constant source of inspiration for our design team, with prints spanning artistic and cultural moments from late 19th century Arts and Crafts movement right up to ‘90s grunge. For those who have always hoped to get a sneak peek inside our elusive archive, we have good news… now you can.

Introducing Liberty’s newest exhibition Print in Focus: a visual display celebrating the artistry, craft and storytelling behind Liberty Fabrics, now available in the East Atrium on the fourth floor. Delve into the worlds of three of our most iconic collections: May Morris, Karel Martens and FuturLiberty, as we share their stories, exploring the creative process behind each one. Each fabric collection will be highlighted individually and will be available on rotation every six weeks, giving you plenty of time to uncover all the feaured collections.

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Art of Craft: May Morris

The Art of Craft is a capsule collection of 10 fabrics taking inspiration from William and May Morris’s exuberant and stylised work, featuring archival designs and ‘May’s Orchard’, a new print created especially for this collection.

May, a lesser-known yet pioneering artist of her time, learned her skills in the decorative arts from her father, but followed her mother Jane into the delicate craft of embroidery. This exclusive print is our interpretation of her exquisite craft, meticulously hand-painted in our London studio. Adorned with intricate botanical details, May’s Orchard features blooming flowers, spring blossom intertwined with trailing foliage and a variety of orchard fruits drenched in richly saturated colour through a quintessential Liberty lens.

FuturLiberty

The avant-garde energy of the Futurists and Vorticists is channelled into FuturLiberty’s DNA. The FuturLiberty fashion collection is a contemporary celebration of movement, unpredictable geometrics, and dynamic abstractions in vibrant flashes of colour, available in Tana Lawn™ and crepe de chine.  Designed in collaboration with couturier and interior designer, Federico Forquet, FuturLiberty presents an unexpected collection of bold and impactful designs which draw upon the work of experimental Liberty designer, Bernard Nevill. These new works appear with a refreshed modern vitality that imparts an intensified optimism defined by rhythmic, repetitious lines.

Read More: Federico Forquet reveals all there is to know about FuturLiberty

Shop FuturLiberty

Karel Martens

A fine artist, typographer and graphic designer, Karel Martens is a master in his medium. We invited him to curate a capsule collection of designs for SS24, and under his direction our Liberty Fabrics Designers transformed his iconic hand-printed monoprints into wearable textiles. Working between the Liberty Fabrics London design studio, the Italian printing mill and Karel’s Amsterdam studio, the final designs mix his hand-drawn motifs with digital collages, for an exciting interpretation of Karel’s work.

“I have always marvelled at the fact that with the three primary colours, you can make all the colours in the world.” – Karel Martens

Read More: Find out what colours mean with the Liberty Kaleidoscope collection

Take a look inside the Print in Focus exhibition:

Karel Marens x Liberty Fabrics vision board

Karel Martens x Liberty behind the collaboration display

May Morris: The Art of Craft about the collaboration display

Visit the Print in Focus exhibition space in-store on the Fourth Floor, Monday to Saturday from 10am-8pm and Sunday from 11.30am-6pm. Get involved with our programme of events and activities for the exhibition below.

Discover the Print In Focus Events