Susan Jane Collier

Susan Jane Collier (12 October 1938 – 18 May 2011) was an English textile designer. She began in a freelance capacity and sold sketches to scarf brands Richard Allan and Jacquar. Collier joined Liberty in 1961, and specialised in floral prints dresses. She was helped by her sister Sarah Campbell starting in 1968, and co-founded the independent Collier Campbell Ltd studio in 1979.

Early life Collier was born on 12 October 1938 in Manchester. She was the daughter of actress Patience Collier and campaigning pharmacologist Henry Oswald Jackson "Harry" Collier. She had two siblings; a sister Sarah and a brother Joe. as well as an interest in natural forms such as wildlife. She had the importance of hard work and creative thought instilled in her from an early age. Both parents painted pictures of flowers which excited Collier, and taught her to concentrate on butterflies wings. and worked part-time as a theatrical dresser.

Collier became determined to supply wholesale quantities required for couturiers ready-to-wear collection, and do a similar action for furnishings. She and Campbell founded the independent Collier Campbell Ltd studio in 1979; the two had made the decision to no longer work for other individuals. Collier worked on the design for the first off-the-peg collection by Yves Saint Laurent, along with Bill Gibb, Cacharel, and Daniel Hechter Paris. The company established relationships with several shopping firms. She left Liberty in 1977 which allowed her to retain copyright of her work. Her value was that good designs should be made available to every person. They were commissioned by Habitat to design their textile lifestyle look in 1974, and was the company's major textile converter by 1980. Collier Campbell won the Duke of Edinburgh's designer prize in 1984 for a decorative fabric collection called "six views", and four years later, they were commissioned by Conran to design the carpets Gatwick Airport's North Terminal.

Personal life and death She was twice married: firstly to pharmacologist Andrew Herxheimer in 1961 with whom she had two children, Charlotte and Sophie Herxheimer, and to broadcaster Frank Delany. Both marriages ended in divorce. Collier died in London on 18 May 2011 from cancer.