What does home mean to you? The Handheld Home project invites you to capture your relationship with the place you call home through a hands-on craft workshop. What are the sights, sounds and textures that come to mind when you think of home? In this workshop, you will create a handheld e-textiles (electronic textiles) artefact that embodies the concept of home.

This workshop will teach you the basics of creating a textiles electrical circuit, allowing you to enhance your textiles creation with lighting. This is an open drop-in workshop running throughout the day. Materials and tools will be provided but we invite you to bring along materials that connect with your concept of home.

You’re invited to share your textiles artefact with the public by displaying it for the duration of the Cultures of Place programme.

Booking is recommended but there will be some drop-in spaces available throughout the day.

Amy Chen joined the Fashion and Textiles department, University of Huddersfield in 2021, teaching across the Fashion and Textile undergraduate programmes. Amy was awarded her PhD in 2021 from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, titled “The Design of Tactile Knitted E-textiles for Interactive Applications”. Amy's research explores the novel interactions enabled through textiles-based e-textiles. Her work has leveraged the unique properties of knitted fabric to expand the visual and tactile possibilities of e-textiles.

Katrina McLaughlin is a designer who investigates the intersections between traditional textiles and digital craft to seek innovation through her interdisciplinary practice. Katrina joined the University of Huddersfield in 2016 as a Lecturer within the department of Fashion and Textiles Department, the School of Art, Designs, and Architecture. She teaches CAD, Future Materials, Embroidery, and Print across courses within the department. Katrina is currently undertaking a Practice-Based Ph.D., investigating the digitalisation of traditional surface embellishment techniques via 3D printing technologies.

Accessibility information

CollaborARTi has step-free access and the closest accessible bathrooms are in Queensgate Market or Huddersfield Library.