Pat Albeck - Orange
House Leader - Deva Alemi 11PA
House Champion - Matthew Rice (see below)
School value - Creativity
House trip opportunity
Pat Albeck profile
Pat Albeck, was a prolific, gifted designer of printed textiles whose genius for flat pattern also took her into design for ceramics, wallpapers and a whole range of merchandise for the National Trust.
Born in Hull, Pat was the youngest of four daughters of Max and Sarah Albeck, both from Zarembi, a small village near Warsaw. The couple left Poland for London and by 1919 had moved to Hull, where Max set up a business.
At Beverley High school Pat had an excellent art teacher who inspired her love of pattern-making and calligraphy. She then spent four years at Hull College of Arts and Crafts at a time when ex-servicemen were flooding art schools.
In 1950, Pat won a scholarship to the RCA in London, to study printed textile design. From the start she found art materials inspiring, using all types of paper, often for cut-outs and collage, paints, fine inks applied by brush, and pens – including, by the 60s, felt-tips.
While she was still a student, her Apples and Pears print was bought as a dress length by Elsbeth Juda, photographer and co-founder of the influential textile and fashion magazine The Ambassador, and Albeck sold a black stripe with a red rose design to Horrockses Fashion.
In 1954 she married her fellow student Peter Rice.
Cavendish Textiles, the production company for John Lewis, became an important client. One of her most famous pieces for them was called Daisychain.
In 1962, her son, Matthew Rice was born.
In the 1970s she began her longstanding association with the National Trust. Her work for the organisation included her famous tea towels, whose intricate narrative charm often led them to be framed by purchasers. By the 1980s she was creating whole ranges of co-ordinated products – from table mats to desk accessories.
Pat took commissions from her son Matthew Rice’s paper company, and on his marriage to Emma Bridgewater in 1987 continued to design for them both.
Pat always gave generously – serving on numerous design committees and as external examiner to many schools of art. Her archives are in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s archive of art and design.
Related links
Pat Albeck overview (by Miss Brownell) https://youtu.be/zf10JcT0LUs
The Guardian – Obituary - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/15/pat-albeck-obituary
Interview with Pat Albeck – Desert Island Disks - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b05mpx0h
An interview with Pat Albeck’s son – Matthew Rice - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO89252JdH8
House Champion - Matthew Rice
Matthew Rice is Pat Albeck's son. He paints, writes and runs courses in the summer which utilise his garden, which is the focus of the rest of his time. Over his career he has published 11 books on architecture, designed many millions of mugs for the business he ran with his then wife Emma Bridgewater, and illustrated for Country Life magazine. His interests in architecture have led to a series of charity roles in that area. Matthew grew up in a household of designers and now lives in Oxfordshire where he paints and writes.