Donna Claypool

Donna is Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Textiles and Surface Design. Responsibilities include coordinating the undergraduate fashion and textiles programmes, teaching printed textile design for commercial and craft-based practices practice, organising student international study visits to archives, trade fairs and factories in the UK, Europe and USA. She has also organised collaborative exhibitions for staff and students, international study visits and exhibitions in New York, Paris and Brussels.

Donna has extensive experience of making, selling and exhibiting textile designs both in the UK and overseas for fashion and interior outputs, including commissions for television set design for Granada and London Weekend Television.

Donna has worked as a textile designer, maker and lecturer for over 25 years and her professional experience supports curriculum development in this area.
Before embarking on teaching full-time, Donna worked from a studio at the Manchester Craft and Design Centre, where she was also Director.

She is a currently a member the Association of Degree Courses in Fashion and Textiles, and also Co-Chair of the North-West Craft Network, regularly contributing to discussions surrounding the development of craft and design within the region. The North-West Craft Network is a gathering of curators, galleries, museums, art and design educators, Arts organisations, collectors and makers based in the North West of England, UK. Founded in 2012, the aim is to strengthen and promote collectable and critically engaged craft within the North West. The network is driven by the shared vision of its members to build a strong regional identity and healthy craft ecology in the North West.