A Life in Colour

Kaffe Fassett – A Life in Colour, showcases more that 100 works by the pattern and textile designer, all of which are bold, bright and brilliantly cheerful.

The exhibition is Fassett’s first in London since his solo show at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1988, and spans five decades of his practice, featuring designs for Bill Gibb, knitwear for Missoni, printed patchwork fabrics, quilts, and needlepoint pieces.

Interior and textile designer Sue Timney has been responsible for the exhibition design, which she says uses ‘a stylised, ordered framework’ to display the pieces. Timney also designed a ‘feeling wall’ installation for the show, allowing visitors to touch the textiles and gain an insight into their fabrication.

The show is accompanied by some gorgeous graphics by Hawaii Design, which use a repeated Fassett-designed pattern and bold typography.

Fassett was born in Big Sur, California, where he studied painting, and moved to London in the 1960s. Late in the decade he met Scottish fashion designer Bill Gibb, with whom he collaborated (and, for a time, dated), working together on complex knitwear designs that went on to be shown in publications including Vogue magazine.

Throughout Fassett’s career, it’s been all about colour, colour colour – whether designing rugs, making huge tapestries or forming his complex mosaic works. It could well be just the antidote we need to the bleak outdoors.

Kaffe Fassett – A Life in Colour runs from 22 March – 29 June at Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1