Surface Design encompasses the colouring, patterning, and structuring of fibre and fabric, and includes processes such as dyeing, painting, printing, stitching, embellishing, quilting, weaving, knitting, felting and papermaking.

Surface designers are served internationally by the SURFACE DESIGN ASSOCIATION whose mission is to increase awareness, understanding, and appreciation of textiles in the art and design communities as well as in the general public. The SDA is best know for their highly regarded Surface Design journal and for an international conference held every two years.

Meetings
In 2004, SDA members and others in British Columbia who are interested in surface design decided to get together on a regular basis, initially in Vancouver, to share their knowledge and experiences, and generally support each other's artistic endeavours.  Today there are three SDA groups who meet regularly in the province:

• Vancouver
• the Sunshine Coast (Sechelt/Gibsons/Pender Harbour)
• Vancouver Island.

EMAIL JENNIFER LOVE for information about the Vancouver and Sunshine Coast groups and EMAIL SUSAN PURNEY MARK for information about the Vancouver Island group.

We are purely informal, unstructured groups and our meetings are also very informal. They move around between members' homes and businesses and are held every two or three months. We do not organize workshops or attempt to teach techniques to each other, although sometimes technical issues are discussed in a meeting. While most participants in our meetings are members of the SDA, such membership is not a requirement for attendance. However, Member’s pages on our website are reserved for SDA members.

Our past meetings have included the following:

• Discussions about marketing and promotion methods
• Presentations from members about national and international conferences or symposiums they have attended
• Discussions about how to design the perfect home studio
• Visits to members’ shops or studios to see and hear about their inspirations, techniques, design processes, business and career goals
• Planning for upcoming exhibitions
• Sharing of current projects and achievements; announcements about upcoming events
• An annual pot-luck supper

Mission
The mandate of the BC SDA, like that of all of the SDA, has always been:

• To seek to raise the level of excellence in surface design by inspiring creativity, and encouraging innovation and professionalism;
• To help each other stay in touch with trends and innovations in the fibre world;
• To connect with and support each other in a discipline where many of us work alone in our studios for much of the time;
• To help increase appreciation for fibre art in the larger community.

All text and images on this site are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced in any way without the express written permission of the artist who created it.