All papers presentations and breaks will take place in the Skempton Building, located on Imperial College Road and across from the Dyson Building which is hosting the Exhibition.
Please note that the below schedule is indicative and could change.
Thursday, 17 September
| Starting time | |
|---|---|
| 9:00 | Registration desk open and welcome coffee available |
| 9:30 | Conference opening |
| 9:45 | Keynote – Co-Evolving Threads: Botanical Evolution, Indigenous Craft, and the Roots of Material Intelligence by Mark Nesbitt |
| Paper Session 1 Intersections with Biology | |
| 10:30 | Towards Textile Templating in Mycofabrication: Knitted Structures as Substrate and Scaffold by Romy Kaiser, Elise Vanden Elsacker, Martyn Dade-Robertson, Ben Bridgen, and Jane Scott |
| 10:45 | Textile as Ecological Index: Casting Domestic Food Waste into Wearable Biomaterial Media through a Domestic Biodesign Framework by Valerie Yan Tong Chua |
| 11:00 | Bacterial Cellulose as Biofabricated Textile Material: Biotinkering and Trajectories of Textile Materialisation by Ziqian Yu and Valentina Rognoli |
| 11:15 | Coffee break |
| Paper Session 2 Intersections with Colour | |
| 11:45 | Evolutive textiles design with the variability of natural dyes : a color-driven approach of textile design by Lou Ramage and Camille Fuzier |
| 12:00 | Developing an Industrial Microbial Colour System through Textile Printing by Ruth Lloyd, Alice Taylor, James Ajioka, and Carole Collet |
| 12:15 | Colour Without Extraction: Towards Ethical Pigments by Tonya Meyrick and Jacinta Kay |
| 12:30 | Design Decisions as Leverage Points of Textile Production and Supply Chain Orientation: Case Textile Colouration by Helmiina Hirviniemi, Maarit Salolainen, and Astrid Tolnov Larsen |
| 12:45 | Reya: Reuse Yarn. Product, Process and Practice by Elizabeth Gaston |
| 13:00 | Lunch |
| Paper Session 3 Intersections with Culture and Communities | |
| 14:00 | Textile Commons of Care: Intergenerational Mending and Temporalities by Sam Bennett and Gabriele Ferri |
| 14:15 | Threading the Line: Switchboard Labor, Bodily Knowledge, and the Textile Traditions of Telephone Operating by Yuhanxiao Ma |
| 14:30 | Beyond Softness: examining how vocabulary marginalises the material narrative of native British wool by Zoë Fletcher and Nicci James |
| 14:45 | Explore It – A speculative approach investigating the material intelligence of casein for future textile materials by Ellen Malene Pilgaard Harsaae, Ronni Anthony Johannesen, Anne Louise Bang, Tine Hjort, Hanne Thaarup Mølbak, and Katrin Meinert Maagaard |
| 15:00 | Coffee Break |
| Paper Session 4 Intersections with Software and Hardware | |
| 15:30 | Opportunities and challenges of toolpath-based 3D printed textiles: insights from Digital Design and Craft course by Yoav Sterman |
| 15:45 | LOOMING between shaft looms and a TC2 Jacquard Loom – A Serendipitous Expedition with Live Weaving by Pei-Ying Lin, Alex McLean, Helen Milne, Femke Vorselen, and Kristina Andersen |
| 16:00 | Imagining Open-Source Ecosystems for Experimental Weaving: A View from the AdaCAD Project by Laura Devendorf, Deanna Gelosi, and Etta Sandry |
| 16:15 | Designing with Evolutive Colors: A Proof of Concept for Bio-based Dye Integration in Textile Design Digital Workflow by Clarisse Barbot, Camille Fuzier, Bertrand Loïc, De Visscher Emile, and Mavros Panayotis |
| 16:30 | Textile Digital Drape Definition – TD3: Comparing Digital to Physical Design Considerations by Alexandra A. M. Kuijpers, Troy Nachtigall, and Maarten R van Bommel |
| 16:45 | Break to relocate to the Dyson Building for the Exhibition Reception |
Friday, 18 September
| Starting Time | |
|---|---|
| 9:00 | Registration desk open and welcome coffee available |
| Paper Session 5 Intersections with Practices and Processes | |
| 9:30 | Including the Hybrids: The Thread Arrangement as a Lens for Manifesting Textile Designers’ Agency by Juri-Apollo Drews |
| 9:45 | Sketching Fast, Sketching Slow: Extending Sketchnoting Practices With E-Textiles by Anna Blumenkranz, Barbro Scholz, Irene Posch, and Verena Fuchsberger |
| 10:00 | From Textility to Embodied Experience: A Practice-Led Generative Approach to Textile ICH Engagement by Mi Lin, Elif Ozden Yenigun, and Anne Toomey |
| 10:15 | Material Impasse: Decentering Intentionality through Uncertainty in Textile Craft by Ruxandra Lupu |
| 10:30 | Designing Garments as Processes: Material Transformation, Temporality, and Care in Contemporary Fashion Practice by Zuzana Šebeková |
| 10:45 | Coffee break |
| Paper Session 6 Intersections with Smart and Programmable Systems | |
| 11:15 | Three-dimensional transformable textiles woven with hygromorphic high-twist linen yarn by Kathryn Walters |
| 11:30 | Shaped Circular Knitting for Zero Waste Design: A Material-Driven Approach To Knitted Textile-Forms by Sem Janssen and Holly McQuillan |
| 11:45 | Towards self-powered woven triboelectric textiles using commercial yarns by Swarnalok De, Mithila Mohan, Matteo Iannacchero, Marie Vihmar, Jaana Vapaavuori, and Mauri Kostiainen |
| 12:00 | Mechanically Recycling Metallicized Fabrics by Maya Thabal Herron, Magdalena Kohler, Tommaso Nieri, Daniele Spinelli, Ilaria Canesi, Zora Kutz, Berit Greinke, and Rebecca Stewart |
| 12:15 | The Impact of Differentiated Post-Consumer Textile Waste Sorting on the Homogeneity of Recycled Yarns by Magdalena Kohler and Holger Cebulla |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| Paper Session 7 Intersections with Soft Robotics | |
| 13:30 | Hooked : Programmable, Capacitive Sensing through Crochet as a Medium for Garments with Tactile Interaction by Juliette Hars and Josie Hughes |
| 13:45 | Strain-sensing Auxetic Knit with Embedded Elastomeric Optical Fibers by Rashmi Mohan and Jeyeon Jo |
| 14:00 | Industrial Panel – Bridging the Gap between Academia and Industry to Accelerate Innovation |
| 15:00 | Coffee break |
| Paper Session 8 Intersections with Woven Interactions | |
| 15:30 | Designing with Drafts and Cross-Sections: Reflections on How Representations of Woven Structure Shape Design Practice by Deanna Gelosi and Laura Devendorf |
| 15:45 | Soft Shapeshifters: Thai Backstrap Weaving as embodied interaction and soft system by Bine Roth and Wuthigrai Si |
| 16:00 | WarpForm: An Accessible Loom Add-On for Weaving Non-Rectangular Textile-forms by Savanne Klop, Manuel Borrego Carazo, Milou Voorwinden, and Holly McQuillan |
| 16:15 | Soft Shaping: Zonal Elasticity in Layered Woven Textiles by IHAB JIRYIS and Arielle Blonder |
| 16:45 | Conference closing address |
| 17:30 | Evening social activity |
Keynote
Mark Nesbitt, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Mark Nesbitt is Senior Research Leader for Plant Humanities and past Curator of the Economic Botany Collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where he has worked since 1999. An ethnobotanist, his research focuses on plant-people relationships through time, with a special interest in plant-based materials. He has researched the global history, structure, and use of natural fibres—such as barkcloth, basketry, paper, and textiles—and specializes in repurposing historic and botanical collections to address contemporary challenges. He is a Visiting Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a Visiting Professor-in-Practice at LSE, and a past-president of the Society for Ethnobotany. His most recent book, with Ruth Stungo, is Weaving Nature: Basketry from Plants to People (Kew, 2026).
Co-Evolving Threads: Botanical Evolution, Indigenous Craft, and the Roots of Material Intelligence
Addressing the conference’s exploration of Material Intelligence, I will explore the relevance of Kew’s historic Economic Botany Collection to contemporary dialogues in biodesign, interactive textiles, and soft systems. I will examine how plant evolutionary biology and human technological ingenuity co-respond to create functional fabrics. By exploring intricate botanical architectures—from the resilient leaves of New Zealand Flax (Harakeke, Phormium tenax) to the nested, net-like inner bark of Jamaican Lace-bark (Lagetta lagetto) – I trace a deep historical lineage of evolutionary design. Rather than viewing flora as passive resources, I highlight how Indigenous and Local makers creatively engaged with plants’ living biology over the last 200 years. I argue that this reciprocal material dialogue directly anticipates contemporary research in more-than-human agency being presented at this conference.
Industry Panel
Chaired by Mili Tharakan from InnovateUK, the panel will discuss Bridging the Gap between Academia and Industry to Accelerate Innovation.
Mili Tharakan – Panel Chair, Knowledge Transfer Manager ‑ Smart Materials and Textiles, InnovateUK
Mili Tharakan is a Knowledge Transfer Manager for Smart Materials and Textiles at Innovate UK Business Connect. With over 20 years of international experience, she has worked in both academia and industry to accelerate textile innovation. After eight years researching smart textiles in academia, she moved into industry to establish an innovation lab for one of India’s largest home textile manufacturers, helping to develop and commercialise smart textile products. Mili has also led initiatives to bring together stakeholders across the fragmented smart textiles sector, building collaborations that enable innovation at scale. Having worked across research, start-ups, manufacturing and innovation ecosystems, Mili is passionate about building collaborations that translate ideas from the laboratory into real-world impact.
Dr Natalie Ishmael – Innovation Manager, Generation Phoenix
As Innovation Manager at Gen Phoenix, Natalie leads new process and material developments to drive innovation in next generation leather alternatives. With a background in textile engineering, and roles held across Technical, Quality and Operation functions, she uses her experience to implement breakthrough concepts at scale. In addition to working on new product developments, she leads the business’s external partnerships with universities and research centres.
Dr Ruth Lloyd – Researcher
Ruth Lloyd is a textile researcher specialising in sustainable textile printing and microbial colour. Her PhD at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, was conducted as an embedded researcher in partnership with Colorifix, where she developed microbial textile printing processes and supporting systems for industrial application. Her wider research practice spans material research, sustainable materials, process development and textile innovation, working across academic and industrial research and research consultancy.
Dr Alejandro Luna – SME Research and Development Manager, UAL Fashion, Textiles, and Technology Institution
Dr Alejandro Luna is SME R&D Manager at UAL’s Fashion, Textiles and Technology Institute (FTTI), where he leads collaborative R&D between the Institute and industry partners, connecting academic research to material innovation and new routes to market. Trained as a biologist, he brings a transdisciplinary perspective to fashion and textile innovation, working closely with SMEs, designers, and research partners to accelerate sustainable innovation across the textile ecosystem. He also teaches on the MA Biodesign at Central Saint Martins and is an Honorary Lecturer at Imperial College London, Centre for Environmental Policy.
Dr Victoria Mataczynski – Co-Founder and CEO, Nanoloom
Victoria is the CEO and Co-Founder of Nanoloom, an innovator bringing to market a high-performance, circular materials platform for a variety of sectors and use cases, starting initially with a biodegradable, recyclable stretch fibre (“elastane”) for apparel. She was previously part of the original 3-person team building an AI dealtech startup that captured over 50% of its market during her tenure. Her role spanned fundraising, as well as negotiating and driving sales and terms, and designing and building the product itself and its AI modules. She exited with her equity. Prior to that she was a corporate lawyer at top tier firms like A&O Shearman, leading, negotiating and executing over 50 deals worth £1 billion+, from VC to IPO stage. For early stage and venture-backed technolgoy companies she has negotiated contracts, advised on M&A transactions, employment law matters, fundraising and capital restructurings.
Dr Sara Robertson – Co-Founder and Creative Director, FLOCC / Sara + Sarah Smart Textiles
Sara Robertson co-founded FLOCC with her business partner Sarah Taylor of Sara + Sarah Smart Textile Design, in collaboration with Annika Syrjämäki of Maison du Flock. This international collaboration rapidly turned an idea into reality, creating a circular materials start-up on a mission to transform post-industrial natural fibre waste streams into electrostatic flock fibre for applications across interiors, fashion and lifestyle products.