Portfolio advice for BA Textiles applicants

Portfolio Requirements

For our BA (Hons) Textiles degree we’re looking for up to 12 to 20 examples of your current work that showcases your level and range of achievements.  

What we look for overall in a portfolio is considered work that shows your individual art and design potential and expresses your creative self. 

As well as showing us your final outcomes, which could be broad and diverse (from fashion, textiles, fine art, materials, product, photography, graphics or other) please include: 

• Relevant research and development work in relation to the progression of your ideas/projects. This may include visual research such as drawing, sketches, mark making and photography, and anything that shows us your creativity in the form of pattern, colour, materials, materiality, inspiration, samples, designs, visualisations and any written thoughts/evaluations, especially with a view to sustainability and circular approach.
• Examples of ‘sketchbook’ work that demonstrates your development of ideas, as well as any CAD design work that you would like to show us.
• Evidence of ‘textile and material’ work although most welcome is not essential, as we will develop textiles and materials with you on the course. We just want to see a portfolio that expresses the individual nature of you and your creativity! 

If it's not possible to bring your work in physical form, then the best thing to do is to save it (or photos of it) to a USB stick, as well as on the laptop/tablet you'll be bringing to your applicant day. Please make sure the work on your USB stick is not password protected, as we may ask you to leave it with us so we can review your portfolio without you present. 

You'll be invited to share your work with the course team at an Applicant Day. Our Admissions Team will invite you to book your place at one of our Applicant Days after you have applied. 

Use of AI 

Your portfolio must contain your own work. We understand that some of your portfolio may include work created in part or whole by AI. You must acknowledge this by adding ‘AI generated’ to the relevant section(s), stating how you used AI to create images, and adding a link to the original image with the date it was created (where possible). 

Integrated Foundation Year  Applicants

If your course includes an integrated foundation year then you'll be developing your portfolio during your first year of study. Therefore, we're not expecting to see a fully finalised portfolio from you at this stage.  

We would, however, like to see your sketchbooks or projects you've worked on in school or college, to get a sense of your creative interests.