Business Fellows

Professor Clare Johnston
Professor Clare Johnston is Head of the Textiles Department at the Royal College of Art and an RCA Business Fellow in InnovationRCA.

Clare studied at Sheffield and Birmingham Art Colleges and graduated in Printed Textiles in 1973. She won the RSA Textile Prize in London, where she was spotted by the designer Pat Albeck, who became her first employer. She subsequently worked for Veronica Marsh, Walker Rice Textiles and Nigel French Studios, collaborating with designers such as Yves St Laurent and Diane Von Furstenberg. She set up her own studio in 1980.

After 13 years of experience in the clothing industry, she began teaching Textiles on a full-time basis in 1986 at Brighton Polytechnic as Principal Lecturer. She returned to the fashion business in 1990, accepting the role of Design Director for Marks & Spencer, where she was Co-ordinator of Colour and Pattern for all womenswear. She was appointed Head of Design at Liberty's in 1998. Clare continues a close relationship with Liberty's as a design consultant.

Clare joined the RCA full-time in 2000. Through her involvement with InnovationRCA, she became Colour Consultant to B&Q in 2004, developing colour palettes for buyers of Home Decorating products. Clare has advised the Shanghai Fashion Federation, and joined a taskforce at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Fashion and Textiles Faculty.