Technically Fabric: Innovation in Textile Practice and Design in 20th-21st Century Manchester

The project seeks to develop new histories, collections and narratives that are founded in textiles practice and which signpost Manchester and its textiles future in the context of the Alliance Report into UK textiles growth and the Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy. The partnership of Manchester School of Art (MSA), Special Collections (SC) MMU, the Department of Materials UoM (DoM) and the Science and Industry Museum (SIM) brings together expertise in contemporary textile design and technological innovation, innovative textile making practices and collecting policies, as resources for future research. Manchester was the cradle of textile innovation, and each partner institution represents the past, present and future of textiles through research, teaching and collecting. The studentship will provide key support for SIM's 2030 Master Plan through research that contributes directly to the proposed City of Ideas narrative gallery, which seeks to explore how creativity and resilience in the downsized textiles sector have enabled Manchester's transition from 'Cottonopolis' into the innovative city and major centre for research and development in fashion and textiles innovation it is today.