Althea McNish: Colour is Mine is a landmark retrospective of one of the UK’s most innovative textile artists and the first designer of Caribbean descent to achieve international recognition. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, McNish (1924-2020) moved to the UK in 1950, completing a postgraduate textiles degree at the Royal College of Art before rising to prominence as a Black female designer. On graduating, McNish began designing bestselling furnishing and fashion fabrics for iconic firms including Liberty, Dior, Heal’s and Hull Traders, for whom she created one of her most famous patterns, Golden Harvest, in 1959.

As part of the Althea McNish: Colour is Mine programme and with the support of our sponsor Liberty Fabrics, William Morris Gallery commissioned 3 designers - Simone Brewster, Yemi Awosile and Rita Keegan - to reimagine and reinterpret Althea’s original designs.