Broderers' Textile Lecture - 12th November 2020

2020 has been a year few will easily forget – and we have had to learn to live in different ways. That includes the Broderer’s annual lecture, which for the first time was held virtually.

Anne Toomey is the Head of Textiles Programme at the Royal College of Art. Founded in 1837, the College is a wholly postgraduate art and design university with a global student body from 65 countries.

A mix of Broderers and professional embroiderers gathered on-line to hear Anne describe the enormous significance of the history of textiles and how we can tap into that experience to decode and recode new materials and methods as a route to innovation.

Marie Bach Holm collected waste plastics from the banks of the Thames and through her design exploration, she de-constructed the plastics and reassembled them through 3D printing into a range of beautiful and strange shapes aimed to provoke our attitude towards plastic waste.


Copyright: Marie Bach Holm

We heard how Lizzy Stuyfzand has challenged the aesthetics of technology. These decorative, multi-layered components combine to form an interactive, intuitive control panel to adjust volume and media files.


Copyright: Lizzy Stuyfzand


Copyright: Lizzy Stuyfzand

We learnt how textiles, materials and methods can be re-examined, de-coded and using a multi disciplinary approach across science, technology, industrial design and craftsmanship can be re-coded to create new applications for today – and tomorrow.

An absolutely fascinating lecture, which prompted really interesting and challenging questions from the Zoom audience.