Dr Francesco Mazzarella

Biography

Dr Francesco Mazzarella is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion and Design for Social Change, teaching in a number of courses across London College of Fashion (LCF), especially the MA Fashion Futures. He works at Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), exploring ways in which design activism can be used to create counter-narratives towards sustainability in fashion. Francesco's research spans the fields of design activism, fashion and textile artisanship, design for sustainability, social innovation, and service design. Previously, Francesco was AHRC Design Leadership Fellow Research Associate at ImaginationLancaster, with the aim to support design research for change.
Francesco was the first researcher to be awarded a PhD from the AHRC Design Star CDT at Loughborough Design School in 2018. His doctoral research project explored how service design can be used to activate textile artisan communities to transition towards a sustainable future. Previously, Francesco was awarded a BSc in Industrial Design (Product Design) and an MSc in Ecodesign, both from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. He has also been an exchange student at the University of Twente (the Netherlands) and at the Minas Gerais State University (Brazil). Francesco's work has been presented at international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.
Francesco has experience in design research, education, and practice in the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Brazil, and South Africa. He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), a charity committed to find practical solutions to societal challenges. Francesco is also a member of Mode Uncut, an international network aimed at activating disruptive fashion modes and practices.