معرفی
Katy West is a Visiting Lecturer in Design History Theory and CSC Academic Coordinator at the Glasgow School of Art, where she has been a staff member since 2008. She lectures on curating, craft, and design while supervising dissertation and thesis writing, with prior teaching experience in Product Design.
Her academic qualifications include:
- Bachelor of Arts in Ceramic Design from the Glasgow School of Art (1999)
- Master of Arts in Applied Arts from the Royal College of Art (2007)
West employs a material culture approach across interdisciplinary research spanning design, fine art, history, and technology, with emphasis on vernacular craft traditions and contemporary culture. Her work examines the cultural status of makers and sociopolitical significance of objects, specializing in 19th-20th century British ceramic design, studio movement history, critical design theory, and curatorial methodologies. Current investigations focus on co-design practices and the intersection of craft production with sociological frameworks.
She supervises postgraduate research in craft, ceramics, design, and material culture while maintaining active professional engagement through mentoring schemes with the Crafts Council (UK), Glasgow City Council, and Dundee City Council. Her collaborative projects include textile co-design initiatives with Indian and Scottish students, partnerships with Design Informatics at Edinburgh College of Art, and commissions for Collective Gallery Edinburgh and Panel Glasgow.
West sustains studio practice through Katy West Design for ceramic production research, serves as Craft Advisor to the Inches Carr Trust, and acts as Industry Associate in Craft for the Cultural Enterprise Office. She also curates major initiatives like the Craft Scotland Conference (2014) and contributes to the Shanks Archive in Renfrewshire.
