Goldsmiths Textile Collection

Don’t miss our exciting exhibition opening for ‘From the Campus to the Streets: An Avtivist Starter Kit’ opening in the Kingsway Corridor, Richard Hoggart Building this Thursday May 7th 5-7pm! ⭐️

Introducing the upcoming events from our second-year curating cohort! ⭐️ From the Campus to the Streets: An Activist Starter Pack

FASHION NARRATIVES Group exhibition by MA Design: Expanded Practice × Fashions & Embodiment Studio @goldsmithsmadesign 📍 Constance Howard Gallery Deptford Town Hall Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross Road, London SE14 6AF 🗓 8 May – 16 June 2025 🕒 Mon–Fri, 1–4 PM | PV: 8 May, 4-7 PM How can fashion tell a story—of bodies, memories, and the world we live in? This exhibition is grounded in research using objects from the Goldsmiths Textile Collection As a starting point, students conducted research into their chosen objects. From there, they explored how garments and textiles can carry narrative potential within contemporary cultural, political, and social contexts. This exhibition presents a group of works by MA Design students from the Fashions & Embodiment studio. ✨ You’re warmly invited to join us, and step into these embodied stories. The Constance Howard Gallery is located in the basement of Deptford Town Hall. If stairs present a barrier for you, please contact us before your visit - we're happy to help.

The 2026 Christine Risley Award is now open for entries! The Christine Risley Award celebrates the achievements of a graduating Goldsmiths BA student who has demonstrated outstanding practice-based work in the field of textiles. Recognising the broad spectrum of contemporary textile art and design, this award celebrates creativity and innovation. The winner will have their work featured in a solo exhibition in the Constance Howard Gallery, home to the Goldsmiths Textile Collection. The award is made possible by the generous bequest of the late Christine Risley, a Goldsmiths alumna and widely respected textile educator, author, and practitioner. Follow the link in our bio for further information and how to apply. #goldsmithsuniversity #goldsmithsuniversityoflondon #christinerisleyaward #competition #textilesaward

Join us for an introduction to the Goldsmiths Textile Collection! Love textiles? Never visited before? Need a little inspirational? Drop in anytime between 1-3pm to the Constance Howard Gallery and Goldsmiths Textile Collection, located in Deptford Town Hall! When: Wednesday May 6th, 1-3pm Where: Deptford Town Hall, New Cross Gate, SE14 6AF What?? The Goldsmiths Textile Collection holds over 4000 textiles, 2000 books, plus archives, journals, pamphlets and slides covering textile art, embroidery and dress from across the world. Everything is available to view by appointment, but for this session our curator will select highlights from the collection, for anyone to pop in and see. No need to book, this event is open to all for free. Please note that the gallery is on the lower ground floor of Deptford Town Hall, please contact us in advance of your visit if you have any access requirements. #goldsmithstextilecollection #goldsmithsuniversity #goldsmithsuniversityoflondon #universityoflondon #textiles #londonevents #londontextiles #embroidery #quilting #textileevents #workshop

Movements in Thread 🧶 A gathering exploring textiles and their hidden power to tap us into intuition, creativity, collaboration, and agency. Enlivening Goldsmiths' rich textile collection, this workshop is an intuitive exploration of textiles through creative writing and guided movement. Inspired by the spiritual role that textiles have held in ancient cultures around the world – from the Egyptian goddess Net who weaves the world on her loom, to the Greek Fates – participants will learn about the lost significance of textiles, hear from craftswomen (via film) about the significance of weaving in their lives, and creatively respond to guided prompts and the Goldsmiths Collection. We believe that craft holds the tools we need to move through stuckness and weave our way through the world, and we sincerely hope you'll join in on this special workshop to explore that for yourself. ❤️ THE PROGRAMME 🪡 Reading the Wisdom of Textiles – Brief Introduction, History & Framing 🪡 Short Documentary Film Screening of By Hand: Sardinia’s Weavers (4 mins) 🪡 Creative Writing Prompts & Textile Study – Conversing with Fabric & Weaving Through Stuckness 🪡 Creative Practice – Textile-Inspired Embodied Movement 🪡 Closing Sharing Circle Curated & facilitated by @issabellaorlando with @izzyponsford and @scarlettspicer in collaboration with @textilesgold 🪡 DATES & LOCATION 📆 Friday 24 April, 4pm 📍Constance Howard Gallery, Deptford Town Hall, Goldsmiths, New Cross Rd, London SE14 6NW Limited tickets available via Eventbrite, 🔗 in bio. Proceeds will be donated to Empower, a UK charity dedicated to supporting young women who've lost their mothers.

#Throwback to our former second‑year BA Curating exhibition ‘Double Standards: Unweaving the UK’s Hostile Hospitality’. The show explored the contradictory nature of the UK’s attitudes toward migration and international students through research, personal narratives, contemporary art and textiles. In collaboration with @textilesgold @migrationmuseumuk @gourdcanteen @goldpapermentalhealth

“Following the paths” was a one-day workshop in collaboration with The Goldsmiths Textile Collection Library & The Constance Howard Gallery @textilesgold This workshop was part of the public programme of ‘Choreographic Samplers’, a solo-collective exhibition with Unión Textiles Semillas @union_textiles_semillas and curated by @gemadarbo , presented by @apsara.studio . It was rooted in different modes of textile knowledge transmission—oral, manuals, and samplers—around the Randa technique. We invited participants to learn the logic of the Randa, a reticular needle lace made through knots, and shaped by historical processes of migration. Randeras de El Cercado @randerasdelcercado is a group of lacemakers that live in the south of Tucumán, Argentina. The group is composed of around forty women who learned these needle lace technique from their mothers, grandmothers, neighbors or friends. Randa arrived in Tucumán during colonial times, around the 16th c. It was a great honour for me to share my experience in such a inspiring venue. My gratefulness to @rubyjhodgson and @gemadarbo to make this workshop possible. Thank you @delfinafdn and @coleccionbalanz for extending your threads. Thanks to all the participants who attended and shared their time and stories with us. Should you be interested in finding out more about Randa or to take a workshop, please follow @randerasdelcercado

Thank you for joining us at Deptford Town Hall for our programme event Queer Noise x Laundry Day!  What a joy to fill the building with sound, memory, and conversation. Echoing through the halls, the programme interwove lived experiences, reflections on queer tensions and comforts, and intergenerational exchanges. It was a beautiful evening of performances responding to and celebrating the work of artist and poet Dee Light. In collaboration with @queer.noise , the night brought together readings from @lalahsimone , @thepoetcora , @munesumukombe , and @jessa_mockridge , alongside music from @tallchildband .  Together, the performances reflected on home, identity, belonging, care, and the domestic as a site of transformation. Each performer chose to read one or more of Dee Light’s poems and responded to them through their own work, feelings, and identities. Sending reverberations through the old Deptford Town Hall’s council chamber, the performers created a viscerally charged space in which Dee’s voice felt close, present, and deeply felt in the room. With sincere thanks to Queer Noise for their care and collaboration, to all the performers for their generosity, and to everyone who came and listened so attentively!  @queer.noise @textilesgold @rubyjhodgson @elishafall_ @flemboyant_flemingo @kiaannalauran Photos: Caitlin Fleming & Elisha Fall

Thank you to all who visited Laundry Day, spent time with the exhibition, and engaged so generously with the work!  Laundry Day brought together feltwork embroideries and written work by artist and poet Dee Light while studying Textiles at Goldsmiths in the 1980s. Playful and surprising, the works transform the domestic sphere, bringing the inanimate to life and rendering the familiar strange. Living between worlds, Light’s work reflects questions of belonging that run through both her artworks and poetry. (Adapted from the exhibition text by Ruby Hodgson.) Finally, a massive heartfelt thank you to Ruby Hodgson, Curator of the Goldsmiths textile collection, who introduced us to Dee Light’s work and who generously cares for the collection. Her knowledge, kindness, and support have meant a great deal, and we have learned so much from her!  Laundry Day was produced by Every Mouth Needs Filling in partnership with The Goldsmiths Textile Collection and Constance Howard Gallery. Photos: Elisha Fall

Join us for the opening of UNmaking: An Exploration of Process and Practice in the Constance Howard Gallery, Friday 13 February, 6-8pm. Why UNmaking? We build our skills through experience, and as a result, our material knowledge and understanding become embodied in the work itself. There is a deep connection here: materiality explored over time through repetitive action builds tacit knowledge — an embodied understanding that textile artists can often take for granted. UNmaking offers an opportunity to review, reflect, and refine our work, allowing us to pause and interrogate why we create. Exhibition opens Constance Howard Gallery, Deptford Town Hall 16 February - 27 March 2026 Monday to Friday, 1-4pm Opening reception Friday 13 February, 6-8pm #textilestudygroup #unmaking #constancehowardgallery #goldsmithsuniversityoflondon #goldsmithstextilecollection @textile_study

@queer.noise x Laundry Day! Please join us this Friday for a truly DeeLightful experience! Celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month with this intimate night of poetry & music responding to the work of the late textiles artist and poet Dee Light in conjunction with Exhibtion ‘laundry day’ in the @textilesgold . Friday 6 Feb 7-9pm Town Hall Council Chamber Deptford Town Hall link in bio Featuring Lalah-Simone Springer @lalahsimone Cora Dessalines @thepoetcora Tall Child @tallchildband Jessa Mockridge @jessa_mockridge Munesu Mukombe @munesumukombe