Shirley Craven (b.1934) was a British textile designer.
Education
Between 1955 and 1958, she studied painting, sculpture, and textile design at Kingston upon Hull and the Royal College of Art, London.
Biography
From 1960, as a consultant designer, she executed designs for printed fabrics produced by Hull Traders. In 1963, she joined Hull Traders as chief designer and a director of the progressive business. The company produced a wide variety of vibrant, contemporary designs, taking advantage of the flexibility provided by screen printing. It consistently took home the Council of Industrial Design Award for printed textiles, including one in 1968 for this design. Shirley Craven developed several related designs simultaneously while working directly from sketches, always maintaining a sense of spontaneity and freshness. (Albert Museum, n.d.)
Craven was a member of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers (now CSD) and was married to the designer Bernard Holdoway, (1934–2009). (Shirley Craven | Portraits: Women Designers, n.d.)
Style
According to the Textile Society, Craven ‘pioneered an aesthetic more akin to painting than textiles, breaking all the rules and ‘revolutionising post-war furnishings with her dramatic, unconventional large-scale designs’. Her bold patterns and colours were commercially successful, capturing the style of the swinging sixties and receiving critical acclaim. (Shirley Craven : Messums London, 2020)
Recognition
She received awards from the Council of Industrial Design (fabrics by Hull Traders), including for Le Bosquet in 1961; Division, Sixty-Three, and Shape in 1964; and Simple Solar and Five in 1968. (Byars, 2004)
Sources
Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL
Albert Museum, V. A. (n.d.). Five | Shirley Craven | V&A Explore The Collections. Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17412/five-furnishing-fabric-shirley-craven/
Shirley Craven : Messums London. (2020, March 31). Messums London. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://messumslondon.com/artists/shirley-craven/
Shirley Craven | Portraits: Women Designers. (n.d.). Shirley Craven | Portraits: Women Designers. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/womendesignersportraits/2015/11/10/shirley-craven/
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