Louisa Stanford
Textiles Design Innovation MA
Nottingham Trent University
Specialisms: Textile Innovation/Textile Art / Textiles - Print/Embroidery / Fine Art
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
Louisa Stanford
First Name: Louisa
Last Name: Stanford
Specialisms: Textile Innovation/Textile Art / Textiles - Print/Embroidery / Fine Art
Sectors:
My Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
University / College: Nottingham Trent University
Course / Program Title: Textiles Design Innovation MA
About
I’m a multidisciplinary textile artist whose work explores themes of memory, cultural identity, mortality, and emotional trace.
Through textiles, print, photography, embroidery, found materials, and digital processes, I investigate the fragile relationship between presence and absence, and the stories embedded within objects, spaces, and material remnants.
This project explores themes of death, memory, and the traces people leave behind through the concept of Memento Mori. Inspired by abandoned houses in my hometown in Eastern Poland, I work with found personal objects such as photographs, letters, books, and documents, using them as fragments of presence and emotional memory. Through textiles, embroidery, print, and photography, I create poetic and reflective interpretations that exist between documentation and imagination. The work focuses on atmosphere, absence, and the quiet mystery surrounding what remains after human presence fades. My aim for the project, is to invite viewers to reflect on mortality, remembrance, and the fragile material evidence of human existence.
Competitions
TEX+ 2026
This project is deeply personal. I travelled through remote parts of the eastern Polish border, which is where I come from, exploring abandoned homes filled with fragments of people’s lives, textiles, wallpaper and personal belongings left behind by their owners. These spaces echoed stories of movement, migration, and memory. As I explored, I also reconnected with my own Polish identity and family history. I was inspired by Louise Arner Boyd, a fearless female explorer who like me, documented forgotten places through her photography. Through screen printing and textile work, I brought my inspiration to life. By layering prints and creating my designs, I honoured the art of craft, time, and storytelling. Each piece holds something real: a sense of place, of history, of the lives that came before.