Minnie Macleish (1876 - 1957 ) British textile designer

Minnie Macleish Patterns for Morton & Sundour fabrics

Minnie Macleish (1876 – 1957 ) was a textile designer in the United Kingdom. She pioneered a free-thinking painterly approach to textile design. She was one of the most outspoken critics of the Art Deco style. She said, ‘Broadly speaking, we do not understand this modern movement in design and do not like it.’

She collaborated with Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Constance Irving at London’s Foxton textiles and Amsterdam’s Metz store. Macleish was a prolific designer during the 1920s and 1930s, creating patterns for Morton Sundour fabrics.

She took part in the British sections of the 1927 ‘Europäisches Kunstgewerbe,’ Grassi Museum, Leipzig, as well as in Paris and Vienna textile exhibitions.

Works by Minnie Macleish

Textile design by Minnie Macleish V&A c.1935

Textile Design by Minnie Macleish (c.1935) V&A

Textile Design by Minnie Macleish c.1935

Furnish fabric, 1924 (made) designed by Minnie McLeish

Textile design c.1935 designed by Minnie McLeish. — Textile design c.1935, designed by Minnie McLeish.

Furnishing Fabric, 1921 (made) designed by Minnie McLeish. — Furnishing Fabric, 1921 (made), designed by Minnie McLeish.

Vase, 1925 - 1936 designed by Minnie McLeish. — Vase, 1925 – 1936 designed by Minnie McLeish.

Furnishing fabric ca. 1923 (made) designed by Minnie McLeish

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

MacCarthy, F. (1972). All things bright & beautiful; design in Britain, 1830 to today. University of Toronto Press.

Design Books – Amazon

* This website may contain affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission when you click on links at no additional cost. As an Amazon and Sovrn affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

More Textile Designers

Alastair J.F. Morton (1910 – 1963) 🇬🇧 British textile manufacturer and 🎨 painter

Morton joined his family’s Morton Sundour Fabrics in 1931 and oversaw the company’s first screen-printed fabrics. He was the artistic director and principal designer of Edinburgh Weavers in Carlisle, which was established in 1928 as Morton Sundour’s creative design unit from 1932 to 1935. From the 1930s, he was a supporter of the Modern movement,…
Jacqueline Groag (1903 – 1986) Czech textile designer

Jacqueline Groag (1903 – 1986) was a Czech textile designer and ceramicist. Born in Prague she studied in Vienna at the Kunstgewerbeschule during the 1920s. In 1937 she moved to Paris where she designed dress prints for Jeanne Lanvin, Elsa Schiparelli and others.Read More →
Lucienne Day (1917 – 2010), influential 🇬🇧 textile designer

Lucienne Day was one of the most influential post-war British textile designers. She developed a unique style of pattern making. READ MORERead More →
Laura Ashley (1926 – 1988) British fabric and fashion designer

Laura Ashley was one of the first British designers to experiment with the concept of lifestyle marketing. Her romantic vision of nineteenth-century rural life, adapted to modern domestic realities, inspired a generation of middle-class Britons who returned to country life in the 1960s and 1970s. LEARN MORERead More →
Minnie Macleish (1876 – 1957 ) British textile designer

She collaborated with Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Constance Irving at London’s Foxton textiles and Amsterdam’s Metz store. Macleish was a prolific designer during the 1920s and 1930s, creating patterns for Morton Sundour fabrics.Read More →
Margaret Leischner (1908 – 1970) German textile designer

She began teaching weaving at the Bauhaus in 1931. She worked at the Dresdener Deutsche Werkstatten in 1931, designing woven textiles, and was the head of the weaving department at the Berlin Modeschule from 1932 to 1936. She worked as the head designer for Gateshead, a British fabric manufacturer.Read More →
Masakazu Kobayashi (b.1944) Japanese textile designer

Masakazu Kobayashi studied at the University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan. He manifested traditional textile techniques and aesthetics in his work. Between 1966 and 1975, he worked as a textile designer for Kawashima. His 1982 fabric evoked komon, a textile dyeing technique which uses paper patterns with small motifs.Read More →
Maya Romanoff (1941 – 2014), American textile designer

Maya Romanoff (1941- 2014) was an American Textile Designer. He studied at the University ofRead More →
Marjatta Metsovaara (1927 – 2014) Finnish Textile Designer

Metsovaara’s style ranged from designs made up of organic forms in vibrant hues to muted neutral tones. She designed for 10 mills in Finland and abroad by 1967, and she made both printed and woven textiles. She ran her design studio and weaving mill in Urjala, Finland.Read More →
Benno Premsela (1920 – 1997) Dutch textile and exhibition designer

Benno Premsela (1920 – 1997) was a Dutch textile and exhibition designer. He studied interior design at the Nieuwe Kunstschool, Amsterdam. Read More →
Shirley Craven (b.1934) British Textile Designer

Shirley Craven (b.1934) was a British textile designer. She studied at Kingston upon Hull and the Royal College of Art, London. Craven ‘pioneered an aesthetic more akin to painting than textiles’, breaking ‘all the rules’.Read More →
Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017) Japanese textile designer and producer

Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017) was a Japanese textile designer and producer born in Kiryu, Gunma. As the sixth generation of a mill-owning family, Arai grew up with fabrics being woven for obis and kimonos. He held traditional weaving methods in high regard and the skills that only the human hand can have in the…
Helen Abson (b.1942) Australian Architect and Fabric Designer

Helen Abson, who trained as an architect, is an Australian designer. She pursued architecture for five years; founded ZAB Design where she designed fabrics that exhibited a preoccupation for texture achieved through pattern and colour.Read More →
Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929 – 1995) Japanese Textile Designer

Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929- 1995) was a Japanese textile and graphic designer: born in Kyoto. He was considered the first Japanese textile designer to be recognised for contemporary design rather than for traditional art and craft. The main characteristic of his work was over sized motifs.Read More →
Gerhard Munthe (1855-1929) Norwegian textile, furniture, Interior Designer

Between 1877-82, he lived in Munich. As a pictorial artist, he brought about the break with historicism in Norway. Drawing on Norwegian folk art and poetry, he illustrated books and designed tapestries for firms including DNB (Det Norske Billedvaveri).Read More →
Tammis Keefe (1913 – 1960) American Textile Designer

Tammis Keefe (1913–1960) was an American textile designer. She designed everything from dish towels to glassware in her airy Dorothy Leibis Studio. Her work can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt and the Fashion Institute of Technology.Read More →
Paul Poiret (1879 – 1944) – King of Fashion

In the early decades of the 20th century, Paul Poiret was a crucial figure in the French fashion industry, notably by adding a deep oriental flavour and rich colours to contemporary clothing. Read More →
Marianne Straub Swiss weaver and designer

Marianne Straub began weaving as a child and later trained under Heinrich Otto Hürlimann Between 1928-31, at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Zürich. Between 1932-33, she was involved with machine production, at Bradford Technical College.Read More →
Gertrud Preiswerk 🇨🇭 Swiss textile designer

Gertrud Preiswerk was a Swiss textile designer she was born in Basel. Between 1926 andRead More →
Oskar Petrovich Gryun (1874 – 1931) Russian 🇷🇺Textile Designer

Oskar Petrovich Gryun (1874 – 1931) was a Russian Textile Designer. Education He studied atRead More →

You may also be interested in

Laura Ashley (1926 – 1988) British fabric and fashion designer – Encyclopedia of Design
Laura Ashley (1926 – 1988) was a British fashion designer who turned her style into one of the most successful program in the home market. The traditional country appearance has become a hallmark style that has been frequently imitated in tone and theme.

Alastair J.F. Morton (1910 – 1963) British textile manufacturer and painter – Encyclopedia of Design
Alastair J.F. Morton (1910 – 1963) was a British textile manufacturer and painter. He studied at Edinburgh University and Oxford University. Morton joined his family’s Morton Sundour Fabrics in 1931 and oversaw the company’s first screen-printed fabrics.