Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice

Aotearoa New Zealand and Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Fibre Practices for Regenerative Development and Design

Te Whiri Whītau, a research cluster based within Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand, invites submissions for a special issue of The Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice (Taylor & Francis).

This special issue explores how fibre, textile, material, and related research and creative practice in Aotearoa New Zealand and Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa contribute to regenerative development and design through Indigenous, place-based and relational approaches. We seek to deepen understanding of how fibre practices can support more just, resilient, and flourishing futures by centering Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing, while fostering meaningful dialogue across cultures, disciplines, communities, and generations.

At a time of intersecting ecological, social, cultural, political and economic crises, there is an urgent need for transformative approaches that reconnect people with place, materials, and one another. Fibre, textile, and material practices—spanning craft, art, community, and small-scale design and production contexts through to industrial and advanced manufacturing systems—offer distinctive ways of understanding and enacting reciprocity, care, stewardship, creativity, and innovation. Through this special issue, we seek to examine how these practices can contribute to regenerative development and design, responding to contemporary challenges while nurturing enduring relationships between people, communities, environments, and generations, while also acknowledging the diverse cultural, political, and economic contexts that shape, enable, and at times constrain regenerative practice.

We welcome contributions from Tangata Whenua, Tangata o le Moana, and Tangata Tiriti researchers, practitioners, artists, designers, makers, knowledge holders, and communities. We are particularly interested in work that engages Indigenous, inter Indigenous, intercultural, and place-based fibre, textile and materials traditions and practices, and that contributes to regenerative futures through principles of equity, justice, inclusion, reciprocity, adaptive learning, and respectful relationships.

Themes and Questions

Contributions may address, but are not limited to, the following questions:

• How can fibre practices contribute to regenerative development and design through renewed connections with nature, community, culture, and self?
• What roles do place, whakapapa, kinship, and intergenerational knowledge, play in sustaining and revitalising fibre practices?
• How can fibre and material practices support inter-Indigenous dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge exchange?
• How can the value and relevance of fibre practices be communicated to communities, industry, and policymakers in ways that generate meaningful and equitable outcomes?
• How do local fibre practices illuminate wider global challenges and opportunities, contributing to more resilient and interconnected fibre futures?
• What does meaningful reciprocity, stewardship, and Indigenous sovereignty look like in regenerative fibre and material systems?
• How do power relations, governance structures, and political-economic conditions shape regenerative fibre, textile, and material practices?
• How might regenerative approaches resist, disrupt, or be constrained by neoliberal and late-capitalist models of development?

Areas of Interest

We welcome research and creative practice engaging with fibres and fibre-related materials across diverse contexts, including:

• Fibre cultivation and harvesting
• Fibre extraction and processing
• Working with raw and locally sourced materials
• Primary and secondary manufacturing
• Yarn development and innovation
• Textile construction, production, and making
• Dyeing, finishing, and surface design
• Paper and fibre-based materials
• Non-woven textiles
• Composites, biomaterials, and biofabrication
• Product and systems development
• Knowledge transmission and educational practices
• Experimental, speculative, and emerging material practices

About Te Whiri Whītau

Te Whiri Whītau is a transdisciplinary, Te Tiriti-led research cluster that prioritises Vision Mātauranga and investigates how natural fibres research can contribute to cultural, environmental, social, and economic regeneration. The cluster is committed to foregrounding mātauranga Māori and Indigenous aspirations through research, creative practice, and community partnerships. While grounded in Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whiri Whītau engages with Indigenous and place-based approaches that resonate internationally. Its core research programme focuses on the revitalisation of the harakeke fibre industry through partnership and collaboration. Through this work, Te Whiri Whītau seeks to cultivate thriving fibre ecologies that strengthen reciprocal relationships between people, materials, place, and future generations. Editors: Angela Kilford (guest editor) with Faith Kane and Te Whiri Whītau