Rachael Walker
Welcome
I'm a Textiles Educator, Researcher and Maker
Exploring what it means to truly know the materials around us.
I have years of experience teaching in further and higher education, including as associate lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. My research has long focused on the relationship between materials, touch and meaning in my ongoing practice as a textile artist and designer.With a distinction in my Masters Degree in Textiles as a foundation I am currently developing a body of work around material literacy for fashion and textiles, building knowledge to support more informed decisions about the materials in practice and everyday lives.
So what is Material Literacy?
Material literacy is sometimes understood as the ability to identify and name materials, to read a label, recognise a fibre, understand a certification. That knowledge matters. But it is only half the picture. The materials we use carry meaning as well as properties. Textiles have been coded as feminine, domestic and decorative for centuries and that coding has shaped everything from how it is taught to how it is displayed in galleries to how seriously it is taken as a discipline. Truly understanding materials means understanding not just what they are made of but what they represent: the histories they carry, the bodies they have clothed, the cultures they have expressed, and the values often unexamined that determine which materials we take seriously and which we do not.
Course Coming Soon
Self-guided online materials in material literacy for fashion and textiles is in development. Covering fibre science, sustainability trade-offs, recycled materials, textile innovation, certifications and greenwashing, everything needed to better understand material choices and claims. Designed for independent learning.Sign up below to be the first to hear when it becomes available
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Just updates on the course and material literacy thinking as it develops.
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