TEXTILE DESIGNER
Judith was born in Horsforth near Leeds, West Yorkshire. Her parents were Albert Found, a chief draughtsman for an engineering firm in Bradford, and Edna Tidswell, a homemaker.
Judith had two brothers, and they grew up in Pudsey, a suburb of Leeds.
She left school at sixteen and went to Dewsbury and Batley Technical College before going to the Bradford School of Art.
Judith showed great promise in textile design and was offered a place at the Royal College of Art in London.
When she joined the Royal College, Zandra Rhodes and Natalie Gibson had just graduated. The college had built a reputation for working closely with the fashion industry.
Judith graduated in 1967, winning a silver medal for her work in printed textiles.
She then became a freelance fashion print designer and her reputation grew. Judith sold designs to the ‘Ambassador’ magazine, run by Elsbeth and Hans Juda, promoting British textiles, and also sold to Deryck Healey Associates in London.
Soon, Judith was selling designs to fashion studios in New York, Italy, Japan, Canada, Germany – and her home base, London.
At the same time, she was appointed lecturer in printed textiles on the fashion design course at St Martin’s School of Art in London (later Central Saint Martins- ‘CSM’). This was a position Judith held for fifty-five years.
Designing for fashion houses around the world meant that Judith frequently travelled abroad. On these trips she began to collect art deco antiques, often picking up bargains from local markets.
She also loved fast cars and would always rent an Oldsmobile when in the USA. Judith liked to stay in New York and drive to Philadelphia for weekends, antiques hunting.
Judith lived in West Hampstead, London, and her house was furnished with ‘finds’ from her travels – as well as her own designs.
In England, her love of speed led to her owning a string of sports cars. Her favourite was a blue Fiat 124.
Meanwhile, Judith’s textile business flourished, selling fabrics to Janice Wainwright and creating designs for Osborne and Little, many of which were used by socialite interior decorator, Lady Victoria Waymouth.
Judith taught many students at St Martin’s who went on to stellar careers in the fashion industry, including most notably, John Galliano, Mimi Wade, Matthew Williamson, Richard Quinn, Craig Green and Katharine Hamnett.
Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney were also graduates of CSM at the same time.
Two of her graduate students, Louise Wilson and Willie Walters, returned to become lecturers at the college, alongside their former tutor.
Judith was always noted for her sense of style. She was always smart – except when indulging her other passion – gardening.
RIP – Patterns Invented Regularly
