All Things Considered

Barron & Larcher
Posted by Kate Sullivan

Whilst talking to a textile enthusiast on the phone yesterday, she introduced me to the names Barron & Larcher, two designers who produced stunning hand block printed fabrics in the 1920s and 30s.

Phyllis Barron (1890 – 1964) and Dorothy Larcher (1882 – 1952) both studied at different London art colleges before going off to independently discover textile printing.

Barron went to France and Larcher to India where she saw block-printers at work.

When Dorothy Larcher returned from India in 1923, she and Phyllis Barron started working together in Hampstead, dying their fabrics through natural methods and printing subtle designs for both furnishings and dress materials.

In the decade that followed, they moved to Painswick in Gloucestershire working in a converted outbuilding at their home producing more designs inspired by both natural forms and geometric shapes.

In the 1930s they also started using synthetic dyes and employing assistants to help and learn from them. Sadly printing ceased in the 1940s during the war when sourcing materials was too difficult to continue.

A collection of Barron & Larcher textiles can we viewed at the Craft Study Centre in Farnham Surrey.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on February 13th, 2009