Welcome!

Hi, I'm Winnie, a fourth-year textiles student at the University of Edinburgh. I have a passion for creating designs that foster connection, mindfulness, and well-being. My current work explores how sensory-rich textiles can enhance community spaces and can bring calm, spark connection, and offer comfort in a fast-moving world.

In a fast-paced world, the importance of physical touch is often overlooked. Yet research shows that tactility plays a vital role in supporting mental well-being by offering comfort, reducing stress, and providing emotional regulation. Textiles uniquely engage the senses, encouraging emotional regulation and human connection.

Tactile Connections is a community-led textile project rooted in these ideas. It explores how tactile surfaces and the process of making textiles can support mental and emotional well-being. Through hands-on engagement, collaboration, and meaningful interaction, the project is about creating connection- between individuals, within communities, and with ourselves.

Developed in collaboration with Lucky Ewe, a Fife-based charity that supports people with additional needs through agricultural experiences, the project places community voice at its core. Many of Lucky Ewe’s interns have lived experience of mental health challenges, and their insights shape every stage of the design process. Together, we’ll work from raw fleece to finished forms, co-creating a deeply personal, site-specific textile installation.

This blog is a space to document that journey, from hands-on workshops and design choices to the emotional and therapeutic value of making. I’ll be sharing insights from the farm, reflections on slow craft and well-being, and behind-the-scenes processes of how this evolving installation comes together.

Beyond the installation, Tactile Connections is an evolving process. It weaves together research, co-design, and slow, hands-on creativity to highlight the therapeutic power of textiles. Through documentation, workshops, and ongoing collaboration, the project invites others to explore how textiles can support well-being in both shared spaces and everyday life.

Whether it’s the soothing feel of wool, the meditative rhythm of stitching, or the shared act of making, textiles offer

powerful ways to support emotional well-being. Textiles are not just something we feel but something that can shape how we feel.