Helen Forbes
Fashion and Textiles Design MA
Heriot Watt University
Specialisms: Textiles / Textiles - Print / Textiles: Fashion/Interiors
Location: Dundee, United Kingdom
Helen Forbes
First Name: Helen
Last Name: Forbes
Specialisms: Textiles / Textiles - Print / Textiles: Fashion/Interiors
Sectors:
My Location: Dundee, United Kingdom
University / College: Heriot Watt University
Course / Program Title: Fashion and Textiles Design MA
About
I am a Scottish born and based artist, specialised in printed Textile Design with a strong passion for colour, shape, abstract and mixed-media.
I pursued my love for art through further education, graduating with a Bachelors degree in Textile Design from Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art and Design (DJCAD) in 2025. Following my undergraduate degree, I exhibited my first collection, ‘Mercurial Tides’, at New Designers London, in summer of 2025 before continuing my education with a postgraduate Masters degree in Fashion and Textile Design at Heriot-Watt University.
Studying my Masters allowed me to expand my knowledge within my design specialism whilst developing and refining my skills in both hand and digital textile printing. It also challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone, experiment with new approaches and apply different strategies to explore how my work could evolve beyond traditional textile design.
My work is visually influenced by my surroundings, and a fascination with the way that colour, texture and form can communicate a sense of place. I enjoy every step of my artistic development by immersing myself into an environment, capturing on-site information to relate back into my works and photography to capture moments, transforming this through abstraction, perception, design thinking, drawing and experimentation to create works which can capture and visually portray a deeper meaning.
Through my work, I aim to create impactful and visually appealing, bold, expressive and bespoke artworks that combine colour, shape, pattern, texture and reflect a sense of place throughout, with the potential to be developed into commercially viable designs.
My practice continues to explore the relationship between art and textile design, creating work that is both visually and socially engaging yet adaptable across different applications.
Tradition through Transition
Taking visual inspiration from Orkney's landscapes to capture the change in which climate change is having on its islands and historical sites. Designed with interiors in mind and serving as a preventative approach targeted at tourists on board the MV Hamnavoe ferry, my work immerses passengers visually through a sense of the beauty, history and culture which Orkney has to offer, in a functional art installation bid to promote eco-tourism.
Competitions
