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Based on ethnographic work with several women’s textile making collectives in Colombia, this article approaches their crafting practices as everyday doings of socio-ecological reparation, in the midst of social and environmental devastation caused by the armed conflict. Rather than focusing on the relevance of their activities for political activism and historical memory, an ecological perspective allows us to emphasise their work as a mundane, more than social process of communal regeneration. We discuss how women in these collectives, after painful and violent displacements, craft new ecologies of existence: relations and interdependencies within more than human worlds that cultivate new modes of care and attention, values and sensibilities in precarious living spaces. Ecological reparation is an everyday, vital, ongoing practice essential for community resurgence and for re-establishing collectivities that sustain liveable worlds.

This paper reflects on my integral design studio teaching and inclusiveness in its design processes. This is exemplified in two different systemic design case studies focussing on social and environmental justice via the lens of empathy. The design studio and/or design practice tend to be fused in this paper because my design studios have always focussed on practice-based, real-life built projects, while my commercial and not-for-profit practices have always implemented design education in real-life built projects through internships and/or other student participation. Therefore, my approach fully follows the pathway of ‘learning by doing’ (Dewey, 1997), focussing on systemic feedback looping of integral real-life experience and reflection through research and practice, targeting brighter post-Anthropocene futures.

The gigamap exemplifies and seeks for systemic relations and reflections of gathered documentation and data of breathing walls, envelopes and screens generating bio-climatic layers in built up environment from diverse study journeys that were co-designed through vernacular culture and the authors own research by design speculations. This Gigamapping is not to present any hard data model but to inform and speculate on the investigated field that is grounded in research by design on cross-species co-living in built up environment through possible architectural parasites. The gradients in the map are marking transfers and variability in time and situation, the arrows suggest the direction of the particular migrations (species, cultures).

A specific type of knowing comes from the handling of materials in the handcrafting of an artifact. This research looks at the relationship between the handcraft of weaving, and the decision-making process and knowledge of the textile designer. It investigates the potential for new design opportunities to be opened up for the commercial designer by moving out of the studio and back into the workshop environment. As an educator, manager and formerly a designer trained in textile design, this research explores an established industrial production method of weaving but revisited using a craft-like approach.\ud \ud Slowing down the creative process to engage with the materials themselves, this paper starts to explore the potential of hand woven leno structures to be used within the landscape and to explore the process of change in response to environmental factors. Architect Philip Beesleys’ work seeks to achieve a balance with nature, submitting itself to the natural cycles and inevitable decay, in which he deliberately designs mesh structures with weak and fragile links, whose materials soak up environmental forces. This paper starts to further explore the value of haptic intelligence and empathy for materials, also adopted by Beesley in his Haystack Veil (1997) and later Holozoic series. The process of creating leno structures on a handloom, has resulted in outcomes difficult to predict using digital software, confirming weaving as an emergent system (Philpott, 2011), where disparate threads are combined into dynamic structures.\ud \ud There is a delicate relationship between textiles and the landscape, in response to which the designer of performance fabrics is required to create, indestructible solutions, with a lifetime guarantee. By embracing the science of uncertainty, fresh ideas and new solutions have the potential to be created.

Given the scarcity of documentary sources dealing with ancient craft production, when trying to understand the ancient decorating industry’s organisation the close examination of paintings is essential to scholars. My attempt to investigate Pompeian painters’ working practices rests on the identification of individual painters’ hands, specifically those who painted the figurative elements of the wall decoration. In order to do so, I applied a Morellian-inspired method for attribution of authorship, based on the close study of forms and invariant relations between them. This method allows us to pinpoint peculiar geographical distributions or recurring patterns of collaboration between painters, thus determining where and how they worked. My analysis focuses on Third Style paintings in Pompeii (about 20 BC - AD 45) and so far it has led to the identification of five different groups of attributed works which appear to be loosely clustered in the city. This could either point to the existence of roughly defined working ‘areas’ associated with specific groups of painters or as evidence that said craftsmen worked on different buildings in the same area at about the same time, later moving to a different zone or town. I will present and discuss these two possibilities.

Key concepts of sustainability in the contemporary consumer society include cradle-to-cradle, slow-fashion, locally-made, re-use, recycle and re-make (or upcycle). Each of these concepts focuses on the design and manufacture of products that are essentially made to comply to a theoretical sustainable framework, thus enabling people to live in harmony with our planet. In an ideal world we would consume and waste less however, to be truly sustainable we also require a healthy economy and so there is dichotomy to be resolved in our consumption behaviours and economic needs; Craft practices have been identified as fitting the bill rather aptly allowing us, in theory, to consume goods at less expense to the environment. Currently we are experiencing a period of, let’s call it Crafts Nouveau, unlike the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries where craft was employed by designer-entrepreneurs, and unlike the Art Nouveau Movement which again harnessed the skills of designers and artists, today amateur craft-workers are joining the trained artisans in bringing hand-crafted items to the marketplace in their droves. Online platforms such as eBay and Etsy are helping such keen, but untrained producers of craft articles to set up micro businesses to sell their wares adding considerably to the amount of stuff available to consumers. As Luckman (2013: 260) states with regard to Etsy, there is ‘no gatekeeping around formal training’ and that this ‘inclusiveness’ potentially fixes a price of less value to all craft items, including the work of those with comparatively higher skill sets and expertise. The Craft Council (2014) reported 11,620 craft businesses operating in the UK employing around 43,250 people, of which, almost 17% are unregistered microbusinesses; while it is not to say that all of these unregistered businesses are run by amateur crafters, but the concept of devaluing skilled craft labour may still be appreciated within this. \ud This paper explores the value of design in craft from a theoretical perspective, drawing on a broad range of texts beyond those confined to craft to bring about a more holistic understanding within the context of sustainable production, with the addition of observations and insights from personal experience. The personal insights originate from the researcher’s accounts and observations of the journey from crafter to trained designer to master class practitioner in order to better understand the role of design in craft in the applied sense. The researcher continues to practice secondary to academia for the purpose of pleasure, experimentation and for further learning and research purposes. Research approaches are used to develop this inquiry to evaluate the role of design in the wider concept of craft as a sustainable means, both economically and socially. While the larger body of research considers a range of crafts, the emphasis in this paper is on those related to textiles given the researcher’s experience and the relationship with fashion, trends and marketing, which must not be discounted as a driver of the current craft revival. As the research study is still in its infancy the purpose of this paper is to attempt to begin to consolidate a range of perspectives gained from theory and observational research in order to invite a critical debate around the value of design in craft and the new craft movement in the context of sustainable futures.

An essay published in the catalogue accompanying Mariele Neudecker's exhibition 'Plastic Vanitas' at The Gallery, Arts University Bournemouth, UK, in 2015. The exhibition subsequently toured to the Nunnery Gallery, London, UK, Corsham Court, Bath Spa University, Corsham, UK, and The Lighthouse, Poole, UK.\ud \ud The essay discusses Neudecker's revisiting of the still-life genre in relation to the contradictory dual function of archives and museums: dedicated to prolonging the life and significance of cultural artefacts, they are also construed as places where works of culture are metaphorically 'put to death'. The essay associates this contradiction with other 'life and death' dichotomies at play in Neudecker's subject. These include ongoing art-historical discussions around the relative importance of perceptual experience versus iconographic interpretation in Dutch Golden Age still-life paintings, and around experience versus interpretation in museums of contemporary art.

This research poster Questions the Power of the Trend Forecaster and its value within SME in the creative industries. The poster was exhibited as part of a MA by Research at the Transitions: Re Thinking Textiles and Surfaces Conference hosted at The University of Huddersfield in 2014.\ud \ud The Re-Thinking context of the conference questions the future of textiles and surfaces the industry and the importance of higher education within this industry.\ud The Conference aims at examining the current and future developments in Textiles and Surfaces

Colour forecasting is a process where attempts are made to accurately forecast colour for fashion-related products that consumers will purchase in the near future, usually two years ahead. Seasonal colours are recognised as a powerful driver of sales. Currently trend forecasts are marketed and sold globally. The information is broad and generalised and does not take into account colour preferences. In the study the anticipation of consumer acceptance was identified as the weakness of the process and an improved system model was developed replacing the anticipation stage with consumer colour acceptance data. The improved model is considered highly beneficial for fashion-related industries to adopt in order to increase their competitiveness in the global market and to assist waste reduction (unwanted products) that impact on the environment. In this paper the development of the two models is presented and discussed in an attempt to purposely promote the usefulness of soft systems methodology for design research.

Colour forecasting is a process where attempts are made to accurately forecast colour for fashion-related products that consumers will purchase in the near future. Seasonal colours are recognised as a powerful driving force of fashion-related products and consumer research of desires and preferences has become an important integral part of design and marketing processes. Trend forecasts are marketed globally by forecast companies to many fashion-related industries in order to increase their market coverage. They do not take into account colour acceptance levels of target markets on which fashion-related industries focus their design and marketing efforts. The information they sell is broad and generalised, even so, they claim to aim for 80% accuracy in their predictions. In a previous study, the anticipation of consumer acceptance was identified as the weakness of the current colour forecasting process. An improved system model, which replaced the anticipation stage with consumer colour acceptance data was conceptually developed and tested. In order to generate sales on the high street, this improved process requires accurate knowledge of consumer colour acceptance which would entail additional cost and time for the fashion industry to implement. It is therefore critical for a tool to be made available that does this part of the process for them. Hence, this research proposes to establish a framework necessary to develop and provide such a colour selection tool that will enable the users of colour forecasting information to generate colour ranges for their products that will have greater consumer acceptance. The tool will enable fashion companies to take control of their own colour forecasting process through the colour selections they make for their ranges. Essentially the tool will benefit the UK fashion industry’s competitiveness in the global market and assist waste reduction (unwanted goods) that impact on the environment.

Morten Lobner Espersen makes vessels, many of them cylindrical; a form he describes as "the simplest of shapes ... harmonious, precise and neutral". In 2000 he mounted his first show of cylindrical vessels in Stockholm and five years later, while continuing to experiment with various other forms, decided to concentrate predominantly on the mute simplicity of the cylinder. Within this self-imposed limitation, Espersen has forged a large vocabulary from the proportional relationships between opening and height. At one end of the scale are circular bases with walls only marginally higher than those of a lily pad--at the other are slender tubes over 50 centimetres high

Interviews conducted during May 2007 and at a subsequent workshop on 16th January 2008 confirm that employment opportunities in textile design tend to be limited to the small scale entrepreneurs taking on trainees or staff or to become self employed. \ud \ud Self-employment appears to be the most immediate form of business operation in the fashion/textile design business. The local entrepreneurs interviewed in the study were involved in design through manufacture to retail. To help the entrepreneurs maximise their opportunities, there are short courses in business development, management, marketing and craft skills and links with organisations such as CTI and TraidCraft (through which they have gained information such as colour trends but this is sporadic).\ud \ud At a workshop on January 16th 2008, representatives from handcraft and small-scale organisations (eg ADAT, MIKONO, Kwanza Collection, AMKA) raised a number of issues that, in their experiences, have prevented them from becoming attractive to an international market:\ud Lack of consistent quality in the raw materials (such as yarns, dyes and chemicals) used to make the products with, suggesting that the Government ought to lobby the raw material manufacturers to produce to a certain quality or to set up factories of their own: the yarns do not produce fabric to the required standards of the international market and the pigment dyes often fade in the wash. \ud Need for adequate preparation for exhibiting at the large international shows \ud Lack of access to current standards of technology \ud The second hand clothing market has an impact on the local designers and needs some form of intervention from the government. \ud \ud There are restricted employment prospects in textile design in the industrial sector (mainly in the Export Processing Zone). The companies are allowed to employ a certain number of people from outside of Tanzania; these invariably include the designers. Reasons for not employing local designers include:\ud Local designers had received no formal industrial sewing techniques or design training so large companies had no confidence in employing them in the design function\ud The large factories train local employees as operators but not design.\ud The design departments often used computer-aided design, a tool not found in the small-scale sector or short-term courses or training centres. \ud Retail buyers ordered staple items (such as bed sheets or uniforms), not fashion (trend led) from large industrial companies so designs requirements were for amendments rather than brand new designs.

The paper shows how traditional architecture influenced the modernist one, when confronted with different climates. It suggests, that similar needs to be done in the time of climate change that is necessarily followed by biodiversity loss, social and cultural changes. A small possible adaptation within the field of architecture is exemplified on the author’s research by design of responsive wooden screen ‘Ray’. One might argue that such little ecosystemic intervention will not generate a large change. However, as shown on the historical examples of the communities that were better aligned with the other nature, such small but systemic inventions were critical for many communities’ survival.

This paper investigates the conflict between hand crafted bespoke tailoring and computerised mass market tailoring in the UK, in order to assess the overall place for this traditional technique within fashion design. It supports a need for retaining the heritage of traditional skills practiced in bespoke tailoring and justifies this as a luxury the consumer can and should afford. The research emphasises the pedagogic approach to the delivery and understanding of tailoring technology in the fashion design courses at University of Huddersfield. This understanding underpins the student’s perception of pattern cutting, fit, sizing, proportion and an overall approach to making clothes. Fashion tutors at Huddersfield believe that when students are taught to appreciate the luxury, heritage and skill of bespoke tailoring, it equips them with the confidence and expertise to create any type of garment. The luxury of the traditional tailoring process is in the time, craft and experience instilled into each garment. A bespoke tailor is a sculptor whose medium is cloth. He moulds a shell out of this cloth that refines and accentuates the human form. It is a unique service in which the client’s individual measurements are applied to the creation of a garment made to their exact size specifications. Particular attention is given to the detail, quality and excellence in the work. Bespoke tailoring as a fashionable look had a revived popularity in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Many fashion designers at the cutting edge of the fashion industry such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen pushed the look of tailoring and the craft traditions of bespoke to the forefront of directional fashion, which in turn provoked a resurgence of interest in the craft. Holding court in a 1998 interview in English Vogue, Vivienne Westwood said; ‘I don’t understand this desperate need to always move forward. To strive for the new is the most conformist thing you can do. Everyone can tell you about what is new and clever, but no-one can tell you what is good! There is a myth that the past is irrelevant, that progress is the only thing.’ (Westwood, 1998) The paper analyses how the bespoke industry considers the incorporation of new and computerised technology. In so doing, it considers how the fashion industry could determine the future of tailoring. This could either be through contemporary fashion’s emphasis on the idiom as a look, or in the vast advances in technological development that could enhance it, in order to make bespoke more widely available. The paper culminates by considering realistic strategies as the technology within an accessible and computerised mass market industry grows and develops. It highlights that its promotion as a luxurious craft with an un-rivalled heritage, at the cutting edge of the industry, could be the key to the customer buying into its continued existence.

The conference theme “Momenting the Memento” focused on six areas of enquiry – Body, Calligraphy, Craft, Dress, Imagery and Space. ‘Absence’ was one of 26 installations and was positioned in the crypt of the Santa Croce. \ud \ud ‘Absence’ is the culmination of traditional leatherwork techniques combined with contemporary mould making practices, incorporating the inverted silicone mould into the finished piece. The purpose of the absence collection is to explore the extent to which personal possessions can be used to harbor emotions by transforming inanimate object into a personal reliquary or shrine. Objects were chosen that related to particular specific people. Drawing upon personal possessions such as jewellery, garments and luggage that had been abandoned artefacts were created from inverted moulds and solid components to identify the space in which a person leaves behind.\ud \ud The positioning of the work alongside specific individual crypts within the Santa Croce allowed a relatable dialogue between possession and owner to take place, resulting in the artefacts being displayed along the length of the crypt.

This thesis explores the conceptual and practical ambiguity of domestic machine knitting which allows it to be appropriate in a variety of settings. The purpose of the study is to understand the perception of machine knit textile art in a gallery context, with a focus on embedded associations of knit and cultural shifts in galleries and museums of enabling and prohibiting touch. Initially, through practice-based research, a variety of methodologies were utilised in the study, with the method of making being defined by pre-existing familiarity and knowledge of knitting. Reflective practice encouraged a research journal to be the main method of reflection, whereupon colour could be determined as a method to encourage audience interaction and subtle approaches to tactility were explored to produce an installation that aimed to have audiences interact despite not appearing overtly tactile. Subsequently, methods of exhibition analysis were applied by utilising unobtrusive observation, reflection-in-action and photography, alongside anonymous questionnaires, to produce both qualitative and quantitative data. In response to emerging debates concerning the relevance of audience participation in textile-based exhibitions this study aims to highlight to audiences and artists using the textile medium, that interactions of touch should be allowed and encouraged in order to expand on the visual experience. Touch is a form of exploration that transforms the audience into participant. This study would be suitable for artists and academics who are enraptured by textile culture and developing knit-based practices in the gallery domain that employ strategies of audience interactivity and engagement with the artwork.

Drawing research from a hand painted textile archive.\ud \ud The basis of this paper is to examine some short projects utilising and drawing from The Gleneden hand painted jacquard design archive undertaken by students of Textile Practice at the University of Huddersfield. \ud \ud The purpose of this research is to discuss how small student projects may suggest methods of production that could inform the early stages of theoretical and investigative PhD research looking at possible interpretations and alternative end uses deriving from the same resource. \ud \ud It will consider how an archive of material produced for one purpose could be redeveloped through drawing to extract value of contemporary significance.