Lauren Chang
Textile designer, maker, and specialist Lauren Chang engages with fibres and textiles to explore the relationship between the natural and manufactured worlds. Her method favours scientific processes, a global perspective, connection to the land, and equal respect for the long arc of time and developing technology.
Lauren earned her undergraduate degree at Princeton University and a master’s from the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton. Conservation requires the in-depth study of the history, materials, and techniques of textiles and the analytical and hand-skills to characterise and repair them. Through this intimate relationship, she gained an understanding of the lives of the textiles and those who lived with them.
After a successful 13-year career in conservation, Lauren shifted to creating yarns and textiles by hand and sharing her expertise. Rather than mitigating change; her practice demands coexistence with constant change. Lauren works deliberately, mindful of the impact of any making practice on people and the natural world.
Lauren has been featured on the podcast Circular with Katie Treggiden and in the publications Weaving: Contemporary Makers on the Loom, the Northern California Fibershed Producer Newsletter, and Spin Off magazine. She worked as a conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago and earned fellowships in conservation at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has published and presented widely on textiles, conservation, and textile science.
