Kristine Upesleja is the founder of the Innovative Textiles & Materials Department at ASU FIDM in Los Angeles. She is a researcher, educator, international lecturer, and connector. For the past 5 years Kristine has been teaching the class “Wearables: Material Futures” in the Product Design Department at Art Center. She is a guest lecturer at UEDA College Of Fashion Design in Osaka, Japan. Kristine is constantly invited to speak on her area of expertise at conferences worldwide. (China, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, Canada and throughout the US.). She is on the Advisory Board for Textile Arts LA, Textile Art Los Angeles, a community group cultivating and promoting textile art-making and design in the Los Angeles area and Fashiontechworks. She is part of the Textile Stakeholder Group at Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator ( LACI).
She has collaborated with international companies including Hugo Boss, Stone Island, Vitra, Lenzing, Schoeller, Patagonia, GUESS, Julia Koerner Studios, and Michael Schmidt Studios. Kristine is also the founder of consulting firm Madisons-Innovative Materials. www.madisonsinnovative.com
This is what the new generation of designers needs to know: A completely new approach and expertise is required. Job descriptions such as Materials Alchemist, Synthetic Biologist or Design Futurist are here and necessary to move forward. Designers are exploring the findings of electronics, software and bioengineering. Collaborations with other industries are inevitable. I’d like everybody to know that we’re enjoying a major materials revolution, which offers opportunities now, in the future, and in global markets.”