Rise and shine, The Beacon curtains are ready to let the light in!

Kangan Arora is an artist and textile designer, born in India and currently based in London. Her work explores the culture of the everyday through contemporary languages of colour, geometry, abstraction and playful pattern application. Her previous projects include everything from geometric floor-to-ceiling tapestries at Exchange House in the City of London to vibrant homeware and product collaborations for the likes of Tate, IKEA and Floor_Story.

Arora has created a vast patchwork piece that will act as a stage backdrop as the Beacon travels across the district. It has been designed as a homage to Britain’s first ever Mela, which was held at Lister Park, Bradford in 1988. The curtain’s design is influenced by the distinctive colourful, striped celebration tents used in Mela celebrations. It also incorporates specific references from the textile archive at Bradford School of Art, Bradford College.

This large-scale artwork takes inspiration from our city’s textile heritage. Bradford is a city built on the wool trade. We gained the title of ‘the worsted capital of the world’ during the Industrial Revolution when it’s estimated that two thirds of the country’s wool was produced in Bradford, known to some as ‘Worsted-opolis’.

From the defensive walls of woollen sacks that protected the cathedral during the English Civil War of the 17th Century, to the visible heritage of Bradford’s industrial history today as many old mills have been repurposed into events spaces, shops and more, Bradford’s textile history is everywhere if you look just a little bit closer.

Rosemary Edwards has been selected by Kangan Arora and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture for her curtain proposal for The Beacon. She is currently a third year FdA Textiles Practice student at Bradford School of Art, Bradford College and enrolled on the course to fulfil her lifelong ambition to study textile art after a 32 year career in the legal profession. Edwards has been supported through this project by Hannah Robson, Lecturer in Textiles at Bradford School of Art, Bradford College and an experienced technical weaver, artist and designer working from her studio in Leeds.

Rosemary’s playful design was inspired by the rich colours and textures of French ribbons found in the Bradford School of Art, Bradford College textile archive. Her design captures the fluttering of ribbons in the breeze, bringing a sense of the parkland setting into the theatre foyer.