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cover art for Ep 5: Wool 1 with Esther Rutter and Raise Kabir

Cloth Cultures with Amber Butchart

Ep 5: Wool 1 with Esther Rutter and Raise Kabir

Season 1, Ep. 5

Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. 


The podcast looks at the importance of wool in the the world of textile manufacturing and production. Featuring writer and knitter Esther Rutter and Textile Artist Raisa Kabir. Raisa is also exhibiting at Queen Street Mill throughout the Biennial.


Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

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  • Trailer

    00:58||Season 1, Ep. 0
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
  • 1. Ep 1: Silk 1 with Rachel Midgley and Sarah Cheang

    35:54||Season 1, Ep. 1
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Featuring Rachel Midgeley, Curator at The Gawthorpe Textile Collection and Design Historian Sarah Cheang shedding light on our textile history looking through the collection of pieces of silk, in particular the Chinese section of the collection which is the second biggest part containing around 400 pieces.Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. 
  • 2. Ep 2: Silk 2 with Arathi Prasad and Paul Blanc

    34:00||Season 1, Ep. 2
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Featuring Biologist and writer Arathi Prasad and Physician and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Paul Blanc.Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. 
  • 3. Ep 3: Linen 1 with Anna Garnet and Fiona McKelvie

    39:31||Season 1, Ep. 3
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Featuring Dr Anna Garnet, Curator for the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology and Fiona McKelvie of McBurney and Black, specialists in Irish Linen.Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
  • 4. Ep 4 : Linen 2 with Alison Toplis and Justine Aldersey-Williams

    36:49||Season 1, Ep. 4
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Featuring Alison Toplis, research fellow at Wolverhampton University and author of The Hidden History of the Smock Frock and Justine Aldersey-Williams from North West England Fibreshed and collaborator on the Homegrown/Homespun project with Patrick Grant.Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
  • 6. Ep 6: Wool 2 with Sally Tuckett and Teleica Kirkland

    38:17||Season 1, Ep. 6
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Featuring Sally Tuckett, Lecturer in Dress and Textile Histories at University of Glasgow and Teleica Kirkland, Lecturer in Cultural and Historical Studies at London College of Fashion and founder, primary researcher, Founder and Creative Director for the Costume Institute of the African Diaspora.Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
  • 7. Ep 7: Cotton 1 with Gillian Berry and Lubaina Himid

    30:55||Season 1, Ep. 7
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Featuring Gillian Berry, Manager at The Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington and artist and Professor of Contemporary Art, Lubaina Himid.Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
  • 8. Ep 8: Cotton 2 with Bharti Parmar and Tiwirayi Ndoro

    26:36||Season 1, Ep. 8
    Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history. Featuring Bharti Parmar, Artist and Academic and Tiwirayi Ndoro Fashion Photographer and Stylist.Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.Throughout the Cloth Cultures podcasts and associated exhibition, fashion historian Amber Butchart explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history.