This is a research project by practice, which firstly develops a new material invention derived from natural fibres extracted from waste pineapple leaves; secondly it articulates the contemporary designer’s role in facilitating sustainable solutions through: Insights from my own material invention, PiñatexTM, which integrates the materiality of design with the immateriality of concepts and values Developing a visual model of mapping I began with these questions: ‘What are the challenges in seeking to make a new and sustainable material from the waste products of pineapple agriculture in the Philippines?’ and ‘How can a design practice link elements of materiality (artifacts) with immaterial elements (value systems) in order to improve sustainable social and economic development?’ Significant influences have been the work of Papanek1 (2003), Hawken2 (1999) and Abouleish3 (2008) and in particular the ethical business model initiated by McDonough and Braungart in Cradle to Cradle®4 (2002). My own research project is inspired by the Cradle to Cradle® model. It proposes the development of a new material, PiñatexTM which is derived from natural fibres extracted from waste pineapple leaves and could be used in a wide variety of products that are currently fabricated in leather or petroleum-based materials. The methods have comprised: Contextual reviews; case studies (SEKEM, Cradle to Cradle® and Gawad Kalinga); practical experiments in the field of natural fibres, chemistry, product development, manufacturing and prototyping, leading to an invention and a theoretical model of mapping. In addition, collaboration has taken place across scientific, technological, social, ecological, academic and business fields. The outcome is a new material based on the synchronicity between the pineapple fibres, polymers, resins and coatings specially formulated. The invention of the new material that I developed as a central part of this research by practice has a patent in the national phase (PCT/GB 2011/000802) and is in the first stages of manufacturing, commercial testing and further design input (Summer 2014). The contribution to knowledge is firstly the material, PiñatexTM, which exhibits certain key qualities, namely environmentally non-toxic, biodegradable, income-generating potential and marketability. This is alongside its intrinsic qualities as a textile product: aesthetic potential, durability and stability, which will make it suitable for the accessories, interiors and furnishing markets. The theoretical mapping system Upstream and Downstream forms a secondary contribution.

My PhD research develops production processes incorporating origami folding, shibori, additive printing and fusing techniques to create textiles that sustain three-dimensional, adaptable form with little or no supporting substructure. In these materials the textile surface itself becomes structural. The controlled packing, deployment and structural stability offered by predetermined folds in planar surfaces are extremely beneficial in many situations e.g. engineering, architecture and product design. I have devised transferable templates of folding that can be reinterpreted in a variety of material weights and scales that have potential for application in a number of these areas. The inherent mobility of these structural textiles, combined with the judicious choice of substrate and materials applied through printing and fusing, enables properties such as thermal or sound insulation, electrical conductivity or light transmission to be varied, as the situation demands. The textiles created are not only autonomous physical entities but also speculative design models. Such developments more usually originate from material science, engineering and textile technology contexts. However, by building on research carried out by these disciplines to develop folded structures but emphasising a ‘poetic’, design-orientated outlook I explore the potential for a more intuitive, nonlinear approach to highlight hitherto overlooked elements in the design process.

This research was prompted by a concern for the vulnerability of traditional pre-industrial handicrafts, namely the songket textiles of Malaysia. The songket textile has been woven for over two centuries in Southeast Asia, and its materiality represents cultural heritage, tradition, and national identity in Malaysia. Market competition from imported, less expensive and mass-produced songket textile replicas has forced local makers to instigate creative change, as a means of longevity and secure a place in the market. Within this research theories of development and social science are used to direct the creative practice of the researcher, forming a textile praxis. The practice of the researcher, as a textile designer and weaver, will introduce alternative technology, namely yarns and weaving techniques, to the production of the textile in order to instigate change. This practice is conducted within the field in Malaysia and in the London studios of the Royal College of Art. The implementation of the practice reflects the local material, technological, and economic environments, hence, providing alternative yarns and weaving techniques which are ‘appropriate’ (Schumacher 1993) to the local hand-woven production infrastructure. It is the socio-cultural context of the textiles materiality which most challenges the researcher in her practice; the duality (Gell 1998) of the object, subject, and social relationship. Manifesting itself as objectivity, dualism presents an agency upon creative practice. The autonomous practice of the researcher is challenged by the autonomy of material representation. The textiles which were produced by the researcher’s practice consist of radical changes in materiality. Through acquiring local knowledge, they represent creativity, where social objectivity has been considered and also abstracted by the researcher. The textiles exist, not as a new genre of materiality, but as exposure and influence to local makers, demonstrating creativity which can be achieved by expanding upon existing technological frameworks. By experiencing the use of alternative yarns during the researcher’s field practice, local makers have chosen to adopt and appropriate the use of the yarns within their practice and subsequent textile market, a use which they have sustained. The use of exposure to influence the local makers practice has already caused changes in the textiles materiality. The future materiality of the textile depends upon the time and space in which its creative practice and society resides.

This thesis is concerned with the influence of the merchant converter on design practice in the Lancashire cotton industry in the period 1900-1939. The thesis aims to supplement the existing design histories of the industry by focusing, firstly, upon the role of design in the context of the industrial and commercial organisation of the industry, and secondly, by examining the practice of design in relation to the export trade in cotton goods. The Lancashire cotton industry had a unique structure that facilitated the production of a wide variety of cotton piece goods that serviced the needs of consumers in markets across the globe. Despite the enormous decline of the inter-war years, in which the major markets of China and India were dramatically reduced, the industry was able to maintain a significant export trade in cotton piece goods. The successful sale of these goods depended in part upon the successful interpretation of consumer preferences by their designers. Lancashire employed a large number of designers who worked either in the employ of manufacturers or on a freelance basis. The thesis examines the different categories of designer who supplied designs to the Lancashire industry, including their education and working practices. It also investigates the relationship between the designer and the agents who employed them. Lancashire's ability to respond appropriately to consumer demands played a significant part in establishing and maintaining exports to markets such as West Africa. A case study of the West African market illustrates the mechanisms that made this response possible. It also emphasises the importance of established merchant organisations that provided the links between consumer, manufacturer and designer. The case study underlines the key relationship between the communication of market information and the production of commercially successful designs. The thesis also addresses the issue of government intervention into an industry that was faced with increasing economic hardship as a result of the loss of markets worldwide. Design was not at the forefront of government policy in respect to the Lancashire cotton industry. Nonetheless, design issues were increasingly associated with government attempts to improve the trade in manufactured goods during the inter-war period, and this is particularly evident in the activities of the Board of Trade. The thesis evaluates the activities of two government organisations, the Council for Art and Industry and the Department of Overseas Trade, their reception by merchants and manufacturers of the day, and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the contribution they made to the industry.

This practice-led PhD research explores the nature of embodied knowledge acquired and practised through the rhythms and patterns of hand-stitching processes, such as embroidery, plain sewing and patchwork quilting, undertaken by individuals alone and in dedicated groups as recreational craft, artistic expression and social life. The scale and pace of hand-stitching match those of the body, grounding cognitive and emotional experience in a tangible process. The hand-eye-mind coordination required cultivates a distinctive form of attention to the self, which has renewed importance in the context of the anti- haptic experiences of screen technologies that infiltrate our daily routines in the home and the workplace. Working with the premise that skilled hand-stitching concerns more than technical ability, I examine how these activities articulate dimensions of subjective experience. In turn, I explore ways in which the relationship between an individual and a group is constructed through their crafting skills. My previous experiences of textile crafting as a social activity drew me to this question, and my interest as a practitioner and teacher in the contemporary and future relevance of skilful work motivates me to better understand what it is that I, and many other stitch practitioners, do. With the tacit knowledge of a practitioner I know how to stitch, and from my investigations into the history and theory of textile art, craft and material culture I know about stitch. However, my view is that when absorbed in the process of making other more immediate and personal sensations take over. An exploration of haptic sensations relative to these processes underpins the investigation, and I focus instead on the dynamic relationship between practical skill, the body and its proximity to tools, materials and other people during actual experiences of making – the repeated gestures, coordinated hand movements and the skilled precision of tool use and fingertip manipulation – to provide a new context for the study of embodied knowledge known in and through hand-stitching. In order to explore this I have used a combination of ethnographic, auto-ethnographic and creative research methods including interviews, observation, video recording of a patchwork quilting group, participation in practical stitching sessions with a village embroidery group, undertaking workshops with students, and my own reflective stitching practice. It has emerged from the research that patterns of hand-stitching processes share characteristics with certain modes of social interaction sought by participants in order to experience sensations of participation, belonging or interdependence. Similarly to other oral traditions, an embodied knowledge of the practice includes patterns of interaction and particular attitudes and behaviours that are inseparable from the practical skills. However, people also stitch on their own; as a private, contemplative activity, hand-stitching allows a person to carve out time and space for introspective reflection. Whilst this could be thought of as a different kind of experience altogether, I suggest that mastery of these skills enables control over when and how to use them, which, I have found, allows a practitioner to adjust the type of experience sought: participation in a shared conversation or activity can be exchanged for isolated contemplation and a sense of self-reliance. I conclude that hand-stitching surpasses its technical or artistic attributes when considered as a material practice that offers particular metaphors for other processes of joining, collaboration, integrity – or even separation and isolation. Practising these skills is possibly the only way to acquire this embodied knowledge, which needs to be understood as a mode of interaction if it is not merely trivialised as quaint, as domestic labour or archived as ethnographic curiosity or as art object.

This practice-led research explores the significance of Qi energy for fashion by materialising the East Asian culturally-specific concept of Qi. Qi features prominently in the traditional philosophy of everyday life in East Asia and my research aims to show how this philosophy can also provide an understanding of the relationship between body, garment and making, which is new to more Western concepts of fashion culture. This reflective journey unravels fashion practice in this context, focusing on the making process and the methods that were developed during that process. I engaged in significant handwork in the field of contemporary womenswear, integrating concepts of the body and garment as a circulatory system for Qi energy. It is the objective of this research to realise garments which help the understanding of Qi as a communication tool in relationships that arise in fashion, namely those that exist between the material and the maker during the making process, the body and the garment, and the wearer and the viewer. My research question originates from a desire to find a way to materialise Qi in garments through the making process. To pursue this, I explore a range of fields including anthropology, material culture, psychoanalysis, literature, cultural theory, and language. Apart from contextual studies, I adopted conversations and filming as methods to develop my research further. In practice, I investigate the meridians (as seaming which constructs garments), the finishing and the openings of the garment, all of which amount to a transitional interface. I view this as a concrete way of injecting Qi energy into the garment on a material level. I have reflected deeply on my making experience; this reflection has led the entire process and also given me a much better understanding of body and garment. Through my making process, aimed at materialising Qi in the garment, I essentially tried to establish a better connection between body and garment. This thesis oscillates between practice and theory. My research suggests Qi energy as a new perspective on fashion making; it offers a new understanding of the body in fashion and tries to fill the gap between practice and theory through embodied knowledge.

The material culture of historic theatre costume offers a vital resource for the fields of dress and theatre history that has yet to be fully recognised. This thesis unites approaches from both disciplines to create a specific methodology for the study of theatre costume founded upon the examination and assessment of such garments. It argues that theatre costume represents a separate and specific category of clothing and theatrical ephemera. Celebrated actress Ellen Terry (1847-1928), an individual highly attuned to the significance of dress as an expression of identity, is used as a case study to demonstrate the validity of this new methodology. Adopting an object-based and material culture approach, the thesis engages with the visual and physical evidence about performance and design that can be gathered from Terry’s extant theatre costumes. It also highlights crucial information about Terry’s dress and its public reception gleaned from additional sources such as photographs; paintings; letters; reviews, and within Terry’s papers and books. This thesis represents the first full investigation of Terry’s personal and theatrical wardrobe, and is the first study to carry out a close analysis of the actress’s surviving garments. This analysis establishes the factors fundamental to the interpretation and study of theatre costume: the significance of social, artistic and historic context; parallels and contrasts between on and off-stage dress; the collaborative process of design and making; the function of costume as both performance object, and expression of ‘identity’; the issue of multiple and complex ‘biographies’; and the crucial evidence offered from material culture sources, most importantly, surviving costumes. Chapter 1 outlines existing methodologies and the cross disciplinary nature of the thesis; Chapter 2 reviews existing literature and proposes a new methodology; 3 provides the context for Terry's professional career; 4 develops the methodology and analyses extant garments. 5 and 6 relate the methodology to ideas of self-fashioning and biography. The thesis establishes Terry as an exceptional figure in British theatre and society who took an active role in fashioning her public and private image, both during her life, and after her death. The analysis of Terry’s wardrobe confirms the status of theatre costumes as unique garments, which represent a key source for design, dress and theatre historians. This detailed case study demonstrates that the methodology presented can be employed in the study of other figures, theatres and periods, and opens up a new and productive direction for future research.

This research takes a practice-based approach to exploring perceptual matters that often go unnoticed in the context of everyday lived experience. My approach focuses on the experiential possibilities of knowledge emerging through artistic enquiry, and uses a variety of modes (like textiles, sound, physical computing, programming, video and text) to be conducted and communicated. It examines scholarship in line with the ecological theory of perception, and is particularly informed by neurobiological research on sensory integration as well as by cultural theories that examine the role of sensory appreciation in perception. Different processes contributing to our perceptual experience are examined through the development of a touch-sensitive, sound-generating rug and its application in an experimental context. Participants’ interaction with the rug and its sonic output allows an insight into how they make sense of multisensory information via observation of how they physically respond to it. In creating possibilities for observing the two ends of the perceptual process (sensory input and behavioural output), the rug provides a platform for the study of what is intangible to the observer (perceptual activity) through what can actually be observed (physical activity). My analysis focuses on video recordings of the experimental process and data reports obtained from the software used for the sound generating performance of the rug. Its findings suggest that attentional focus, active exploration, and past experience actively affect the ability to integrate multisensory information and are crucial parameters for the formation of a meaningful percept upon which to act. Although relational to the set experimental conditions and the specificities of the experimental group, these findings are in resonance with current cross-disciplinary discourse on perception, and indicate that art research can be incorporated into the wider arena of neurophysiological and behavioural research to expand its span of resources and methods.

This dissertation exists in relation to the exhibition of design practice at the RCA, November 7th 2014 (documented in photographs accompanying the text); it is structured according to my construction of the exhibition. It therefore integrates the question of describing my practice-based research methods along with the descriptions of my research context, and case studies of other contemporary designers; the history of the Arts and Crafts ethos, as a precursor of modernity, is also reconsidered as of potential use for a crafts approach to textile sustainability. The methods used are a compound of the workshop method of experiments at the desk, drawing board, computer screen, loom and print room, along with a search for existing cases of similar textile-weave practice in current production, some historical research and some autoethnography, which documents the subjective experience of researching sustainability in one aspect of textile design. The thesis explores aspects of emotional durability through textile design. The meaning of emotionally durable textiles, particularly those using a Jacquard weave design, was encoded in the form of QR code (Quick Response code) patterns, which, when scanned by a smartphone, lead users through the digital portal to digital platforms which inform and network users. Considering the origins of the computer in the digital binary logic of weave and its mechanisation in the Jacquard loom, the use of the weave process as a medium for encoding the meaning of the material is especially interesting for the designer as a means of activating the agency of the maker and the user. The use of textiles in all aspects of everyday life ensures the proximity of textile as an interface between the familiarity and comfort of the material and the designer’s addition of the function of rationality in relation to others and to the world of knowledge, networking and activism. The research concludes with a range of prototype Jacquard designs, which activate the relationship between designer and user through the medium of encoded messages. Using the Jacquard code as a part of new digital media of twenty-first-century technology is a way for design practice to celebrate the industrial innovation of mechanised weave and to apply this to the challenges of sustainability.