Issy Broadbent
Textiles with Business Studies BA Hons
University of Brighton
Graduates: 2026
Specialisms: Textiles - Print / Childrenswear / Textiles for Fashion
My location: Brighton, United Kingdom
Issy Broadbent
First Name: Issy
Last Name: Broadbent
University / College: University of Brighton
Course / Program: Textiles with Business Studies BA Hons
Graduates: 2026
Specialisms: Textiles - Print / Childrenswear / Textiles for Fashion
My Location: Brighton, United Kingdom
About
I am a Printed Textiles designer currently studying at the University of Brighton. My work is rooted in storytelling, folklore, and play, with a strong emphasis on colour and imagination.With a background in illustration, my practice explores drawing and image-making through figurative forms, fictional landscapes, and sequential narratives. Collaboration is central to my process, particularly working with children to co-create imaginative stories that inform and shape my designs.My approach to making is highly hands-on, incorporating hand-dyeing, screen printing, and embroidery to create tactile, expressive textiles. I am particularly interested in natural dye processes, and have grown my own woad and weld plants to produce colour for my samples, embedding a sense of care and connection to the materials within my work.This approach reflects my interest in designing textiles for children and childrenswear. I am drawn to creating playful, expressive work that encourages creativity and invites a sense of wonder in those who engage with it.
In Folklore We Draw explores the collaboration between childhood imagination and the creative process of storytelling. Oral and written traditions form the foundation of my printed textiles, examining how language and narrative act as a thread between cultural heritage and present-day experience. The project began with a workshop at a London-based primary school, where the children collaboratively developed their own story. Using the Brothers Grimm tale "The White Snake" as a starting point, they reimagined it within a modern setting, creating drawings filled with fictional characters, imagined landscapes, and elaborate references to their everyday worlds. I have translated this shared narrative into a series of screen-printed textile samples for womenswear and childrenswear, alongside children’s garments, combining illustrative imagery, abstract forms, and vibrant colour. My garments and samples aim to evoke joy and creativity, allowing both child and adult to imagine their own stories within everyday play. The work is informed by the children’s instinctive mark-making and uninhibited approach to storytelling, capturing the energy and freedom of their visual language. Designed for both childrenwear and womenswear Spring/ Summer collections.
Competitions
