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Biography

After graduating from Loughborough University in Multi Media Textile Design, I was awarded the Texprint (now TexSelect) Breaking New Ground Award. I then joined Central Saint Martin’s prestigious MA Fashion specialising in Textiles for Fashion. My graduating menswear collection was shown at London Fashion Week in 2003. During this time, I undertook a number of internships and freelance roles at fashion brands as well as gaining international press and publicity (Vogue.com, Elle Decoration, International Textiles) and sales to brands such as Michiko Koshino, Reebok and Donna Karan and well as showing my work at avant-garde stores such as The Pineal Eye.  In 2014, I was awarded my PhD from the Royal College of Art entitled In Textasis: Matrixial Narratives of Textile Design which focusses on articulates textile design practice within and beyond existing and emerging design theory.

Research interests

My work, both practice-based and theoretical, has always taken an approach that is experimental and conceptual; questioning and exploring the innate and typical characteristics of textiles, materials and cloth, particularly in the context of the body.

I adopt materials, texts and processes, often from beyond the expected and adapt and innovate with them to create new surfaces, fabrications and texts. In the past I have created embroidered textile transfers for skin, magnetised cloth coated in iron giving the effect of needlecord and astrakhan, and used animal hair and silk in the electrostatic flocking process.  My theoretical work in design research utilises feminist qualitative research methods, exploring relationality through storytelling, autoethnography and metaphor. My work both commentates on and aims to establish the position of textile design with the design research discourses and academic community, through the development of textile theory. 

I am keen to hear from all potential PhD and MPhil candidates and have specific interests in supervising projects in following areas;

- design research, design theory, design studies, design process and pedagogy across all disciplines

- material innovation and data visualisation/materialisation methodologies

- circular design, transition design and design for sustainability in fashion and textiles