Working with a range of archival materials from the Macmillan Brown Library and Heritage Collections, Julia Holderness explores her own textile making alongside that of artist and teacher Florence Akins (1906–2012).

Akins’ documents relate to her teaching of textiles at the Canterbury College School of Art, and include lecture notes and other instructional resources such as colour diagrams. Holderness reworks them and presents their possible entanglement with the international Bauhaus movement.

Connections are also made with Florence Weir (1899–1979), currently the only known New Zealander to have studied at the Bauhaus. In 1936 Weir designed the costumes and sets for a local Christchurch production, and these were said to have been inspired by her time at the Bauhaus. The production was never staged publicly, and in the absence of any surviving documentation, Holderness imagines these designs in an appliqué series.