Audio recordings of on 30 April. Althea McNish in conversation with John Weiss

John Weiss and Althea McNish, Stuart Hall Library

We are very grateful to Althea and John for an insightful and interesting evening at the April Clothes Cloth and Culture Group. Althea is an internationally successful textile designer who came to Britain from Trinidad and Tobago in the 1950s. She studied as an architect, at the London College of Printing and at the Royal College of Art. Althea's vibrant textile designs were sold by Liberty's, Hull Traders and other textile companies throughout Europe.

Fabric by Althea McNish

Althea's husband, John Weiss, is an architect and jewellery designer. John and Althea talked entertainingly about their lives together and the inspiration sources for Althea's textile designs. They touched topics as diverse as the origins of their surnames, the royal family, Althea's experience as a migrant to Britain and how she worked with technicians in the textile industry. Read more 

some of the audience and a sample of Althea's fabric

Clothes, Cloth & Culture Group. Dr. Althea McNish in conversation with John Weiss.

Join us for this free talk Thursday 30 April 2015 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Stuart Hall Library

Dr. Althea McNish is a painter and textile designer, she came to Britain from Trinidad and Tobago in the 1950s to study at the London College of Printing and the Royal College of Art.

Best known for her innovative and successful textile and surface pattern designs, Althea worked with Liberty & Co., Hull Traders and international companies. Examples of the range of fabrics designed by Althea can be seen on her website

Althea and was associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement. Her art work draws on diverse cultural influences.

In 2011 Althea was featured in the exhibition RCA Black organised by The Royal College of Art in collaboration with the African and African Caribbean Design Diaspora (AACDD). The exhibition celebrated art and design by African and African-Caribbean graduates and students; a group who are often marginalised within the creative industries.

Althea describes her experiences as an artist and designer in her interview with John Weiss in Building Britannia: Life Experience With Britain, 2009. She talks about how she worked with the major international textile companies, her use of colour and 'tropicalisation' of English flowers.

"In the context of the unacknowledged contribution and influence of the Black artist, Althea McNish had a visible effect on British textiles and thus on, and in, British culture" John Weiss 1998

Dr. McNish works in partnership with her husband, designer John Weiss, who will interview her for this Clothes, Cloth and Culture Group event