Biography
Anne joined Northumbria University in January 2012, taking up the position of Reader in Materials research for Design as part of the new research initiative at Northumbria School of Design London.
Anne is a printed textiles specialist with national and international experience in research-based design, product development and manufacture.
She has an in depth understanding of, and experience in postgraduate learning and teaching and has initiated innovative approaches to cross-disciplinary curricula.
Anne has a BA (Hons) in Fashion and Textile Design and worked as a designer, both in house and freelance, for 6 years before launching her own company designing and manufacturing luxury lifestyle products.
In 1997 she joined the Royal College of Art, where she was Senior Tutor and Deputy Head of the Textiles Department until December 2011.
Talking Point
The big questions or design issues that I am focusing on at the moment
Anne recognises that innovative materials and textile constructions will be essential aspects of human centred design over the next decade and beyond, including areas such as intelligent environments, wearable technologies, renewable energies and interactive consumable devices. This has been the focus of her research activities.
The touch of technology and how technology touches us intrigues and provokes questions around how tomorrow's products will feel and how they will make us feel.
The lab is becoming increasingly important in the development of new products and how the designer utilises materials to form product is becoming critical as the characteristics of the new materials offer far greater impact into sensory and emotive human values.
This challenges us to almost completely renew our perceived use of textiles, fabrics and flexible surfaces in a range of human centred applications. The adjacency of textiles with everyday life demonstrates the breadth of possible application space and its potential to create an impact in the area of social inclusion and societal benefit.
However, as textiles develop into complex integrated systems with logic, memory and connectivity the expertise and skill base needed to realise this vision extends far beyond the design community into the material science and technology communities.
Research Interests
A summary of the main elements or themes within my research
Anne‘s research focus is design-led innovation with materials, both existing and emerging, in order to redefine the relationship between product and the human experience, with particular emphasis on active materials for intelligent surfaces and products.
The vision of the NSDL centre to develop a D:STEM environment is a new and essential approach to make the necessary step change from late stage design interventions to driving ideas and research through creative vision in combination with science and technology expertise into radically different and new ways to develop the products of the future.
Key Publications
A list of recent or key publications that best represent my current research interests
'Visible Invisibility' (2010)
Medical and Healthcare Textiles, Woodhead
ISBN 1 84569 224 1
ISBN - 13: 978 1 84569 224 7
'Bioengineered Textiles - The convergence of bioengineering and electroactive conductive polymers for assistive healthcare' (2009)
WACBE -TBIS 2009 special symposium, Hong Kong (Co- authored with Professor Raymond Oliver and Dr Jenny Tillotson) ISSN 19423438 May 2010
'Design Drives Materials Innovation', (2010)
Royal Academy of Engineering Journal - Ingenia, March 2010 (co-authored with Professor Raymond Oliver) ISSN 1472-9768
'Physical Basis for Ambient Intelligence:It's not the materials, it's the effects talking' (2011)
(co-authored with Professor Raymond Oliver)
Ambi-Sys, Ambient Media and systems conference, Porto (European Alliance for Innovation)
ISBN: 978-963-9995-11-6
Teaching Interests and Modules
An overview of the courses and modules that I currently teach on
My teaching interests lie within cross-disciplinary approaches to redefine the role of the designer and their contribution to innovation.
Who I Work With
A list of key academic/industrial partners that I’ve worked with recently
Royal College of Art, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (RCA), Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, Imperial College.
