Ms Sonja Andrew

Sonja Andrew graduated from Staffordshire University with a BA (hons) in Multi-Disciplinary Design in 1991, with a specialism in printed textiles and surface design. She worked in industry at Skopos Design as a textile artist, before embarking on her Masters degree in Textiles (theory and practice) at Central St. Martins, London, investigating "Textiles As Cultural Signifiers".

Sonja has a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching expertise. She was previously senior lecturer & course director for the undergraduate textile design programme at the University of The West of England (UWE) Bristol, and joint undergraduate course leader for fashion & textiles. She has also taught students at postgraduate level at Central St.Martins, UWE Bristol and the University of Manchester. Sonja is external examiner for University of Huddersfield, BA (hons) Fine Art for Design programme at Batley School of Art, and external examiner for the BA (hons) Printed Textiles and Surface Design programme at Leeds College of Art & Design, appointed by the University of Leeds. She is also an associate practitioner of the Higher Education Academy.

Sonja joined the Department of Textiles & Paper as a 0.6 lecturer in September 2003. She is design tutor for the Master of Enterprise programme and lecturer in printed textile design for the undergraduate programme in Textile Design & Design Management. Sonja also supervises graduate designers working in the department under the Arts Council's business "setting up scheme".

Sonja is currently completing her PhD in "Textile Semantics" at the University of The Arts, London. Her main research interests involve textiles as communication in public spaces; exploring multi-modality through channels such as visual and tactile communication on cloth, the textile artefact as a signifying object, and the influence of context on the reading of textiles. She is also involved in the aesthetic interface between textile materials and paper to create new paper surfaces for design applications.

In addition to her work with the university, Sonja is a freelance printed textile designer and the founder and coordinator of Textile Forum South West, an Arts Council funded regional textile networking organisation for the south west of England. She has also developed and coordinated two national textile conferences "At The Edge - Extending Textile Boundaries" (March 05 )and "Colour Story" (March 06).

• June - September 2006, "Viewer responses to image, cloth and context" printed textile installation and consumer research, Lloyds TSB regional headquarters, Birmingham.
• November 2005, 5,000 AHRC grant "The development of textile-embedded papers for creative design applications".

• Andrew, S. (2006) "Textile Semantics: An Exploration of the Communicative Capacity of Textiles in Public Spaces" (paper), University of the Arts Research Seminars.
• Andrew, S. (2005) "Textiles as Cultural Signifiers: Investigating Semiotic Sign Systems For Visual And Tactile Communication Through Textiles" (paper). Conference proceedings, "Multi-Modal Texts: Engaging Sign Systems" University of Plymouth.
• Andrew, S. (2005) "Philosophy and Approaches for a Regional Textile Network" (paper). Conference Proceedings, "At the Edge: Extending Textile Boundaries", Somerset Centre for Enterprise.
• Andrew, S. (2005) "Textile Semantics: Investigating The Capacity For Visual And Tactile Communication Through Printed Textiles Within The Built Environment" (poster presentation). AHRC "Perspectives in Practice Based Research" conference, London College of Fashion.
• Andrew, S. (2004) "Textile Forum South West: A Case Study Of Regional Collaboration On Creative Textile Initiatives" (paper). Conference proceedings "Together 04", University of Bolton.
• Andrew, S. (2004) "Textile Forum South West: A New Regional Textile Organisation" (paper). Symposium proceedings, "DARN: Working Together", Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery.