Sonja Andrew graduated from Staffordshire University with a BA (Hons) in Multi-Disciplinary Design in 1991, with a specialism in printed textiles and surface design. She worked in industry at Skopos Design as a textile artist, before embarking on her Masters degree in Textiles (theory and practice) at Central St. Martins, London, investigating "Textiles as Cultural Signifiers".
Sonja has a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching expertise. She was previously senior lecturer and course director for the undergraduate textile design programme at the University of The West of England (UWE) Bristol, and joint undergraduate course leader for fashion and textiles. She has taught students at postgraduate level at Central St.Martins, UWE Bristol and the University of Manchester.
Sonja is external examiner for the University of Huddersfield, BA (hons) Fine Art for Design programme at Batley School of Art, and external examiner for the BA (hons) Textile Innovation programme and the overseas BA (hons) Fashion and Textiles programme at The University of Central Lancashire. She was previously the external examiner for the Printed Textiles and Surface Design programme at Leeds College of Art and Design. Sonja is an associate practitioner of the Higher Education Academy and was the invited academic specialist for two undergraduate degree re-validation panels at UK universities.
Sonja joined the Department of Textiles and Paper as a part time 0.6 lecturer in September 2003. She is a design tutor for the Master of Enterprise programme and lecturer in printed textile design for the undergraduate programme in Textile Design and Design Management. Sonja also supervises graduate designers working in the department under the Arts Council's business ‘setting up scheme’.
Sonja is currently completing her PhD in "Textile Semantics" at Central St.Martins, The University of The Arts, London. Her main research interests involve textiles as communication in public spaces; exploring multi-modality through channels such as visual and tactile communication on cloth, the textile artifact as a signifying object, and the influence of context on the reading of textiles. She is also involved in the aesthetic interface between textile materials and paper to create new paper surfaces for design applications.
In addition to her work with the university, Sonja is a freelance printed textile designer and undertakes commissioned design work and consultancy work for arts organisation development. In 2004 she secured Arts Council funding to establish and coordinate ‘Textile Forum South West’, a regional textile networking organisation for the south west of England. Sonja has developed and coordinated three national textile conferences "At The Edge - Extending Textile Boundaries" (March 05), "Colour Story" (March 06), and "Textile Identities" (November 07), in addition to developing workshops, exhibitions, seminars and textile events in the south west region. She has also worked with British tapestry weavers to secure funding to establish the national organisation ‘The British Tapestry Group’, chairing their inaugural conference at Dean Clough galleries in 2008.
Sonja exhibits her textile work nationally and internationally, most recently at the Busan International Design Festival in Korea (May 2009). Her commissioned work focuses on printed textiles for public spaces, including work for The United Bristol Healthcare Trust and Wells Cathedral. In addition to her academic publishing Sonja is commissioned to write exhibition re
