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Bottomley and O’Hana present two collaborative design research projects, 2006 and 2019, that share a common thread of Spanish and Mediterranean textile histories and contemporary jewellery design. The paper explores the collaborative opportunities that working across disciplines can yield by honouring and advancing past cultural heritages and traditions through academic research and practice. Outcomes include revealing hidden insights, material innovation, development of international partnerships and the generation of new knowledge, teaching and design. Two collaborative inter-disciplinarily jewellery projects unpick past and present narratives and analyse the circular economy of collaborative Craft and Design with diverse stakeholders. o Can sharing diverse craft vocabularies be applied to expand the production range of an independent, bespoke industry or community through an intervention or international academic partnership? o How do differing cultural perspectives and material knowledge constrain or expand design thinking? o What strategies may emerge to promote communication and understanding between the designers and clients and collections, for heritage interdisciplinary practice-based research? Bottomley, principal investigator of the Tech-tile project studied the work of nineteenth century Spanish-born textile designer Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949) in Venice, developing a collection of jewellery for exhibitions in 2008 at Villa Fortuny, Venice (Italy) and the Hove Museum and Art Gallery, Brighton, (UK). Part of Bottomley’s collection was a collaboration for a series of titanium jewellery pieces with O’Hana, then a PhD researcher. These pieces took inspiration from the textile qualities, specific colour and hand-drawn ink patterns of Fortuny’s arabesque designs. Metalwork made use of O’Hana’s research in laser-controlled oxide growth on titanium as an artistic tool to produce precisely defined colours according to different parameter settings (O’Hana and Turner, 2012). Examples of prototypes and finished works of jewellery will be included. Over a decade later, O’Hana draws from the ancient textile history of the island of Mallorca, Spain, to initiate a new design project with Teixits Viçens (established 1854) that amongst its woven output specialises in the development of Ikat weaving, a technique that the company traces back to historic silk trading routes. This 2019 project has involved over 50 students from the BA (Hons) Jewellery & Objects course at Birmingham City University, School of Jewellery, UK, where both O’Hana and Bottomley now work. The project promotes ‘student as producer’(Neary 2010) engaging them as new thinkers, researchers and designers within an academic framework. The outcomes observe the heritage, material collections and production processes of this small family business, whilst respecting the company’s own ethos and visual objectives that so closely reflect the island’s natural environment. Of note is the company’s restriction of the use of plastic materials which the project observes. The aim has been to creatively expand the production range of an independent, bespoke industry through academic partnership across two countries. Through a rich visual display of exhibited jewellery, the developmental methodologies and winning designs, the paper presents the importance of crossing boundaries to promote new investigations of current global debates. Ultimately it demonstrates the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration for the promotion of new vision and original thinking.

type	paper
keywords	Heritage, Interdisciplinary, Narrative, Textiles, Jewellery, Craft
copyright	Authors /Birmingham City University
year	28/01/2020
publisher	Fashion Colloquia
external link	https://www.archedu.org/fashion-colloquiumjaipur.html

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Mediterranean threads: Interdisciplinary jewellery and textile design narratives between cultural craft heritage and artisan communities. (28/01/2020)

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