Public lecture
Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam, NL
June 2023
As part of the Expert Lecture series at the Willem de Kooning Academie, I co-presented Wearable Play: Creating Sensory Experiences for, and with, Autistic Children Through Clothing in collaboration with Julia Bach, an educator for autistic children.
The presentation highlighted the importance of play, sensory exploration, and its impact on wellbeing. While focusing on autistic children, we also drew parallels to overarching themes like stress, dysregulation and play. We invited participants to reflect on these themes through activities such as marking an outline of the body to indicate where they hold stress.
We showcased prototypes I developed in consultation with Julia, encouraging the audience to consider how clothing can foster play and have influence on sensory wellbeing.
For more information about this lecture series, visit the Master Design at Piet Zwarte Academie website:
https://masterdesign.wdka.nl/save-the-date/
Audience Reflection and Engagement: Discussion and activities deepened the exploration of key themes, fostering meaningful conversation with audience members.
Brittany Thorpe 