Dr Francesco Mazzarella
Title
Senior Lecturer: Fashion and Design for Social Change
College
London College of Fashion
Email address
Tags
Researcher Research

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). 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.
Grants and awards
(Figures indicate amount awarded to UAL)
- Arts and Humanities Research Council, Modelling and Supporting Recovery of the UK’s Experience Economy: Enhancing Audience Resilience and Engagement via Digital Methods, £651,000.00, (2020-2022)
- Foundation for Future London, ReGo, £49,790.00, (2021-2022)
- London Borough of Waltham Forest, Legacy of Making for Change: Waltham Forest, £21,000.00, (2020-2022)
- Design Council, Design Economy 2021, £65,985.00, (2021-2021)
- The Sheepdrove Trust, 'Making for Change: Waltham Forest' showcase, £10,000.00, (2019-2019)
- Waltham Forest Council, Making for Change: Waltham Forest, £66,900.00, (2018-2019)
External Links
Research Outputs
Article
- Mazzarella F, May A, Mitchell V. A Methodological Framework for Crafting Situated Services (2021)
- Ouano J, Mazzarella F. Design-Driven Approaches to Enable Sustainable Entrepreneurship – Two Case Studies of Regional Textile Communities From the Philippines and the UK (2021)
- Rodgers PA, Mazzarella F, Conerney L. Interrogating the Value of Design Research for Change (2020)
- Mazzarella F, Storey H, Williams D. Counter-narratives Towards Sustainability in Fashion. Scoping an Academic Discourse on Fashion Activism through a Case Study on the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (2019)
- Rodgers PA, Conerney L, Mazzarella F. Deconstructing Design Research (2019)
- Rodgers PA, Mazzarella F, Conerney L. Investigating the Next Generation of Design Researchers (2019)
- Mazzarella F, Hirscher A-L, Fuad-Luke A. Socialising Value Creation through Practices of Making Clothing Differently: A Case Study of a Makershop with Diverse Locals (2018)
- Mazzarella F, Mitchell V, Escobar-Tello C. Crafting Sustainable Futures. The Value of the Service Designer in Activating Meaningful Social Innovation from within Textile Artisan Communities (2017)
- Mazzarella F, Brass C. Great Expectations for the O-shaped Designer (2017)
Book
- Mazzarella F, Bofylatos S. Design for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2021)
Conference, Symposium or Workshop item
- Rodgers PA, Mazzarella F, Conerney L. The Evolving Landscape of Design Research in the UK (2019)
- Mazzarella F, Mitchell V, May A, Escobar-Tello C. Weaving the Threads: Service Innovation with Textile Artisan Communities (2018)
- Mazzarella F, Escobar-Tello C, Mitchell V. Moving Textile Artisans' Communities towards a Sustainable Future – A Theoretical Framework (2016)
- Brass C, Mazzarella F. Are we asking the right questions? Rethinking post-graduate design education towards sustainable visions for the future (2015)
- Mazzarella F, Escobar-Tello C, Mitchell V. Service Ecosystem: Empowering Textile Artisans' Communities towards a Sustainable Future (2015)
- Mazzarella F, Engler R. Self-production and craft: advanced processes for social innovation (2014)
- Mazzarella F, Peruccio PP. Self-production: a human centered design process. The sustainable future of self-production through a humanistic and participatory process (2012)
Performance
- Cronin R, Mazzarella F, Tischler-Wood A. I Wanna Be Me, I Wanna Be EU (2019)
Report
- Kimbell L, Bailey J, Nold C, Kaszynska P, Todd J, Mazzarella F. Design Economy 2021 – Introductory Paper (2021)
- Bailey J, Kimbell L, Kaszynska P, Mazzarella F, Todd J, Nold C. Design Economy 2021 – Environmental and Social Value of Design (2021)
- Mazzarella F, Schuster A. CUT (2021)
- Mazzarella F. Making for Change: Waltham Forest (2020)
Show/Exhibition
- Mazzarella F, McKay F, Jugovic M. Making for Change: Waltham Forest showcase (2019)