Lola Powell
Textile Design BA Hons
Norwich University of the Arts
Specialisms: Textiles - Weave / Sustainable Design / Textile Innovation/Textile Art
Location: Norwich, United Kingdom
Lola Powell
First Name: Lola
Last Name: Powell
Specialisms: Textiles - Weave / Sustainable Design / Textile Innovation/Textile Art
Sectors:
My Location: Norwich, United Kingdom
University / College: Norwich University of the Arts
Course / Program Title: Textile Design BA Hons
About
I am a textile designer specialising in woven textiles, creating immersive environments that explore the relationship between body, material and landscape. My practice is rooted in the rhythms of nature, where movement and growth inform the outcome. I intuitively work with natural fibres; I materialise their energy into expressive, tactile textiles that encourage sensory engagement and grounding. Sustainability is embedded throughout this low-impact process, where plant understanding and seasonality are integral to the work. Through a ritual-led, material-driven approach, I forage and source fibres from the local landscape, extracting plant-derived colour and tannins to develop time-sensitive palettes. Using double-cloth and open-weave construction, alongside hand spinning and slow processing techniques, I translate rhythm and flow into layered, tactile structures. This moves textiles beyond the surface, forming cloth that is activated by movement, light and interaction, inviting touch, play and reconnection with the land. I am pursuing a career in installation-based design within festival and outdoor contexts, where woven textiles become immersive and communicative. Through this work, I aim to reposition woven design as a versatile living system that encourages interaction, accentuating the cognitive and sensory value of physical connection with material and environment.
Living Fibres is a woven collection exploring the relationship between body, material and landscape. Designed to respond to touch, light and movement, the project considers how textiles can become living, tactile structures activated through interaction with the body and natural environment. The collection evolved through slow, embodied processes including forging, fibre extraction, hand-spinning and natural dyeing. Working intuitively with natural fibres, I encouraged touch, rhythm and the behaviour of each material to guide the progression of the work. Plant understanding and seasonality became integral to this process, with locally sourced colour and tannins creating time-sensitive palettes shaped by the surrounding landscape. Through digital dobby weaving, double-cloth and open-weave construction, these material explorations developed into layered woven structures that were gathered, manipulated and extended beyond the surface of conventional cloth. Movement, ritual and organic growth informed their transformation into sculptural forms. The final collection exists between wearable textile, installation and spatial design. Living Fibres proposes woven textiles as a responsive system for touch, play and sensory engagement, encouraging a renewed physical connection between material body and place.
Competitions
