Weaving a life: Becky Dodman Wainwright and the art of making meaning

<p>Working closely with students on our BA (Hons) Textile Design and our new MA Design (Textiles) from September 2025, Becky’s work bridges generations of knowledge and future-facing innovation. Her teaching and research are rooted in non-extractive, collaborative methods, helping students build practices that are sustainable, rigorous and full of personal meaning.</p> <p>“I’ve always loved the idea of living alongside my work,” Becky says. "A lot of the pieces around the house are quietly stitched with memories. Crochet from years ago, woven portraits of my daughters, rugs made as gifts. It’s like a timeline of our lives, woven in wool."</p>

<p>Her practice merges generational craft knowledge with experimental approaches to colour, cloth and co-creation. She is perhaps best known for ‘Tasseography Textiles’, an Arts Council England-funded project that uses the symbolism of tea leaf readings to guide co-designed textile artworks. A ritual of shared storytelling, the project transforms everyday moments into abstract, expressive design.</p>

<p dir="ltr">“Everyone is an artist. That’s one of my core beliefs,” Becky explains. “Tasseography is about activating creativity in people who don’t always see themselves as makers. We drink tea, read the leaves, choose colours, and design together. It’s playful, intuitive, and often quite profound.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Becky’s woven works have been featured in Talking Textiles Magazine, The Sunday Times, VICE, and international exhibitions. As an educator and researcher, she brings this same sense of openness and experimentation into the MA Textiles course at Arts University Plymouth, working alongside Dr Jason Hirons to lead a community of ambitious, socially engaged creatives.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Becky’s work is deeply connected to the research environment at Arts University Plymouth, particularly through the Making Futures research group, which explores sustainability, craft, and socially embedded design. Her postgraduate students engage with topics ranging from biodesign to regenerative textiles, often moving across disciplines and collaborating in open-access workshops and digital labs.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Postgraduate study here is about pushing boundaries, in your thinking, your materials, your methods,” Becky says. “Students might arrive as designers or artists, but by the end of the course they’re weaving with light, exploring social change, or inventing new materials. It’s exciting to be part of that transformation.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Arts University Plymouth’s MA programmes are practice-led and research-rich, offering dedicated time and space to test, iterate and refine ideas. Through units focused on experimentation, interdisciplinary collaboration and public presentation, students emerge with a strong conceptual foundation and a professional creative practice. Becky’s own work often becomes a model for this process, demonstrating how design can be slow, relational and deeply felt.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">In Becky’s own studio, slowness is a superpower. “I love starting projects that take a year,” she says. “There’s joy in that long-form making. One scarf I wove has a different pattern in every square. Another tapestry took shape over months of quiet morning weaving before work. Each thread carries memory.”</p> <p dir="ltr">She teaches with the same ethos: care, curiosity and rigour. Her students learn the logic of weaving, the mathematical rhythms of shafts and sequences, but they also learn to trust their instincts. Becky encourages them to explore deeply personal ideas and translate them across materials, often blending analogue and digital techniques.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We’re currently testing a 3D-printed eight-shaft loom,” she smiles. “It’s a perfect example of what’s possible when we mix heritage craft with emerging technology. That’s what makes this place so exciting - we can imagine new futures for textiles.”<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">In 2026, Becky will help bring the British Tapestry Group’s 25th national touring exhibition to Plymouth, supported by Arts University Plymouth and Real Ideas. It will mark a significant moment for the city and for contemporary textile art in the UK.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s such a privilege to bring this level of textile work to our students and our community,” Becky says. “Plymouth is already home to so much creativity, and I’m proud to help put it on the map for contemporary weaving.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Whether guiding students through complex warp structures or reading tea leaves in her kitchen, Becky Dodman Wainwright is a maker who weaves meaning into everything she does. Her work, and the way she shares it, reminds us that textiles are not just functional or decorative, they are emotional, relational and alive with possibility.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Whether you’re looking to deepen your craft, disrupt traditional industry models, or explore sustainable materials through research-led design, our new<a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-design-textiles" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> MA Design (Textiles)</a>* is built for ambitious makers ready to lead change.</p> <p dir="ltr">Launching in September 2025, this course immerses you in the practice and theory of contemporary textile design, from heritage craft to bio-based innovation. Under the guidance of Becky Dodman Wainwright and a community of expert researchers and visiting specialists, you’ll experiment with non-extractive methods, develop your own material voice, and work within a dynamic, cross-disciplinary ecosystem.</p> <p dir="ltr">As part of our wider<a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/study/postgraduate" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Postgraduate community</a>, you’ll gain access to world-class facilities including our Natural Dye Lab, Fab Lab, Tufting Studio, and Biomaterials Lab, with opportunities to collaborate, exhibit and explore research across art, design, media and craft.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>MA Design (Textiles) is subject to validation. Applications are now open for September 2025.</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Book an advisory chat with Becky or the team: postgraduate@aup.ac.uk<br />Or call: +44 (0)1752 203434<br /></p>