Phyllis Barron

Phyllis Barron was born in London and attended the Slade School of Fine Art. She became interested in textile design whilst in France as a student, experimenting in her own studio from c.1915. In 1923 she joined forces with Dorothy Larcher (1882-1952), with whom she shared a studio at Parkhill, Hampstead until 1930. They used a variety of printing techniques, cutting blocks from wood or lino and printing onto cottons, linens, velvets and silks for furnishing and dress. They made positive prints with natural dyes and also used the discharge (bleach) method. After 1930 they introduced synthetic dyes to their production. In their designs, Barron worked mostly with geometrical patterns and Larcher with plant motifs. They produced work for exhibitions and commissions, receiving prestigious orders from the Duke of Westminster, the architect Detmar Blow and the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. In 1930 they relocated to Hambutts House, Painswick, Gloucestershire, where they converted outbuildings into a workshop and dyehouse and set up a large indigo vat. Three assistants were regularly employed. They ceased printing in c.1940, due to wartime shortages of materials; Larcher took up painting flower studies and Barron turned to local parish affairs.

[See: http://www.vads.ac.uk/learning/learndex.php?theme_id=cscu1&theme_record_id=cscu1barandlar&mtri=cscu1text]