Jules Findley

My research is in embodied materiality, has led to questioning in-depth areas of emotions around complicated grief and memory using methodologies of affect in making paper, evolving into paintings, drawings and sculpture. Presenting at international conferences, making work for exhibitions. 

In 2018, I gained my PhD Textiles from the Royal College of Art. I have a First Class Honours in Fashion and Textiles, and an MA in Learning and Teaching. 

Making paper became a metaphor for skin-to-skin, skin-on-skin, remaking the used and reused into new, analysing embodied materiality in its essence creating substrates at the encounter of the elemental. The textile and fashion processes of unravelling, unfolding in both cloth and paper become material conductors of our passage through life. Edges, raw, fragile and delicate became the metaphor for maternal loss and the emotional unease in complicated mourning. My installations have been exhibited at the International Paper Biennale, Shanghai, China in 2019, 2021, and more recently Tiawan, 2023. 

Research has been made in 2021 as co-investigator with AHRC project on Sustainable Materials in the Creative Industries, a 12 month scoping project in the areas of Fashion, Textiles, Accessories and Leather in waste and how waste is managed in these industries, in collaboration with the PI at Royal College of Art, and other co-i's at the University of Edinburgh and University of Plymouth. 

More sustainable projects have followed with SME's local to Brighton with an international focus. 

Teaching in Higher Education came after an extensive period working in the industries of fashion, textiles, theatre and feature films. Teaching practice developed during the MA in Learning and Teaching in Cambridge. This inspiration has stayed with me, creating new courses, writing, and validating in 2014 the award winning BA Hons Fashion Communication with Business Studies course. I have considerable experience of writing and developing course material, new courses for undergraduates and postgraduates in different subjects and successful validations without conditions. Since 2013, I have been awarded Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Being a lead in Knowledge Exchange in the School of Art and Media, I have always had a strong interest in industry. I originally trained in Fashion and Textiles at undergraduate level, working as a creative director for Pex plc, design consultant for Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, in Paris and Madrid. I worked as a fashion and product designer and trend director for Loewe S.A. Madrid, for eleven years, worked as a fashion photographer for catwalk photography and as an illustrator, fashion forecaster and trend predictor with International Textiles. I have worked with design companies such as Fitch, Pentagram, Davies Baron among others.

I worked in theatre in London, in lighting at the Gielgud Theatre, working with directors such as Nuria Espert, and as follow spot at London Collesium with ENO. Working in theatre inspired more study, and a career in post production followed as a 3D Character Animator and 2D Compositor for the film industry, Cinesite, Framestore working as an animator creating the fist VFX for BBC Science for BBC2 television series, as character animator for Jim Henson's Creature Shop for film, front end animation for computer games companies such as Psygnosis and compositor at Cinesite Europe, in UK, and LA, USA, making 10 feature films and finally as CG Supervisor in character animation for a children's series for Halmark Entertainment in Berlin. 

In 2022, I undertook consultancy work with Brighton RISE for Secret Projects, a company in West Sussex wanting a feasibility study in Deadstock Textiles in UK and India. I have also worked with BRITE and a sustianable swimwear company, Ruby Moon Ltd in Brighton on investigating alternatives to neoprene and polyamides. In summer 2022, I completed a Knowledge Exchange Impact course with Canadian partner, MobilizeU. ECR representative to be on the UKRI-AHRC awarded Impact Accelaration Account (IAA). UKRI invited panelist on Circular Fashion and Textiles NetworkPlus Assessment

Postgraduate supervision in Textiles, Fashion, Fashion Communication, Drawing, encompassing embodied materiality, my work in handmade paper and practice-based, installation art. More recently,  substantial research as co-investigator with an AHRC project in sustainabile materials in Fashion and Textiles. I am interested in waste in the Fashion, Textiles, Accessories and Leather industries, together with materials, circular economy, reuse and repurposing.  

Recent PhD supervision:

University of Brighton - Claire Dawson - Research Title: 'Clothing Reuse in the Circular Econonmy: An exploration of the challenges and opportuniteis for UK high street fashion brands' - [March 2023 - July 2029]

University of Brighton - Martin Irorere - Research Title: 'Closing the Fashion Sustainability Gap through textile Recycling: Evaluation of UK Gen-Z consumer attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance of textile recycling'. - [March 2021 - July 2026]

Anglia Ruskin University - Amanda Lavis - Research Title: 'Woven Language: A practice-based research investigation Exploring the Textile Praxis in Children's Book Illustration' [March 2021 - expected completion 2025]

External PhD Viva examination experience, University of Chester October 2020 - Georgina Spry -  'A New Felt Presence: Making and Learning as part of a Community of Women Feltmakers'