A new international conference to explore new design ideas and research into making heritage wool crafts.

Inspired by Shetland’s history of innovative interaction between hand, machine and digital technologies (Abrams and Gardner 2021), the conference will explore new approaches to craft, design and making in wool-based textiles and beyond, at a time of growing concern about the impacts of materials and industrial processes on the climate and communities.

We invite proposals for presentations, panels, posters, or creative engagement sessions on subjects including (but not limited to) the following themes:  

• Digital design: opportunities for textile practitioners in different geographical contexts
• Colour work: cross-disciplinary responses to the use of colour in knitting and weaving
• Intersections of hand, machine and digital making in contemporary creative practice
• Textile education and local communities of practice in a globalised world
• New technical applications of textiles in diverse sectors
• Wool and beyond: new approaches to materials in place-based textiles

The deadline for proposals is 5pm UK time, 31st May 2023 and authors will be notified by end June 2023.