About

Colour Every Day explores how colour has shaped everyday life through clothing, workwear, home furnishings and design. Discover rarely seen objects from the SDC Textile Collection and uncover the stories woven into the colours that surround us every day.

Colour is woven into almost every aspect of daily life. It influences the clothes we wear, the products we buy, the spaces we inhabit and the ways we express our identities. Yet the colours that seem familiar today are the result of centuries of innovation, changing tastes, technological developments and cultural influences.
For this special Heritage Open Days archive opening, the SDC Textile Collection invites visitors to explore a selection of objects that reveal the many ways colour has shaped everyday experience. Through textiles used in homes, workplaces, schools and leisure activities, visitors will discover how colour has reflected social change, responded to new technologies and influenced the lives of ordinary people across generations.
The event offers a rare opportunity to access the collection and view fascinating objects . From vibrant printed fabrics and carefully dyed samples to decorative furnishings and testing machinery, each object provides a unique insight into the relationship between colour and everyday life. Visitors will learn how colour trends emerged, how advances in dyeing transformed the textile industry, and how textiles can preserve stories of personal expression, work, creativity and domestic life.

By opening the archive and sharing these objects with the public, the event highlights the importance of textiles as historical records. Together, they reveal how colour has connected people, places and experiences, found in everyday items.