Mung Lar Lam is a highly experienced professional with a diverse background in the fashion industry and academia. With 20 years of industry experience, she has designed menswear and womenswear in New York and Paris. Transitioning to executive management roles, Mung Lar has demonstrated expertise in Product Development, Technical Design, Product Testing/Analysis, and Global Sourcing. Notably, Mung Lar was a finalist for the Global Change Award 2022 as a member of the EcoClean team, for their contributions to waterless textiles cleaning technology.

Mung Lar brings over 15 years of experience in fashion education and administration, with strong expertise in online education, programme design, curriculum/course development and industry integration. Prior to PolyU, she was Director/Assistant Professor at the Parsons School of Fashion in New York and Head of Online Fashion Design/Associate Professor at RMCAD.

Mung Lar is a practicing artist with an exhibition history spanning over 15 years. She holds an MPhil degree in Economic and Social History from the University of Cambridge. She was also a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Gender Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. Furthermore, she holds an MFA and Bachelor of Art degrees in Textiles from the California College of the Arts and San Francisco State University, respectively, and an Associate degree in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

@munglarlam_fashion_ed

Candice Lau is an award-winning master leatherworker and sculptor who has exhibited her work in the UK and Asia. Her work is highly textural and juxaposes materials giving new language to physical form. She is passionate about using traditional methods and handcrafts to create a unique and contemporary intersection between design, fashion and fine art. Her approach is innovative and combines old and new practices while maintaining a high level of artisanship.

Candice’s eponymous leather studio has attracted commissions from clients including New Balance, John Smedley, Hermes, Toast, Bang and Olufsen, Heals, and Lacoste. To date, Candice has been granted scholarships and awards from, the European Cultural Academy in Venice, The Arts Council UK, The Queen Elizabeth Trust Scholarship, Worshipful Company of Leathersellers and Cockpit Arts, and she was shortlisted for the Maker of the Year Award by the Heritage Craft Association. Candice is also the author of The Leathercraft Handbook (2020) published in 3 languages/countries, and she has taught leather workshops at the V&A Museum, London Design Festival and to private students.

@studiocandicelau

Melissa Leventon, co-founder and principal of Curatrix Group museum consultants and appraisers, is a specialist in European and American costume and textiles. Since 2006, she has been a senior consultant to The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok. Formerly Curator-in-Charge of Textiles at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Melissa has also curated exhibitions involving media ranging from textiles and contemporary glass to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

She has written 4 books, most recently Fit for a Queen: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's Creations by Balmain (2016) and contributed to many exhibition catalogues and journals, including “Distinctly Californian: Modernism in Textiles and Fashion” in California Design 1930-1965, “On and Off the Loom: Kay Sekimachi and 20th Century Fiber Art” in In the Realm of Nature: Bob Stocksdale and Kay Sekimachi (2014), and “Modernity Through the Lens: The Westernization of Thai Court Dress” in Costume (2013) to name a few.

Melissa has over 20 years of academic experience teaching fashion history and fashion theory in Fashion Design, History of Art and Visual Culture, and Critical Ethnic Studies departments, and is the co-founder of the Fashion Archive Collection at California College of the Arts. She also lectures frequently on costume and collecting and consults for individuals and museums across the United States.

Leren Li is a London-based design historian and researcher. She received her PhD degree from the V&A/RCA History of Design Programme. Her research and practice has been exploring fragility, damage and mending in textiles and everyday objects. Focusing on the Japanese patchwork boro, Leren’s PhD project investigates the traditional repair craftsmanship as a revived cultural phenomenon and excavates the layers of value and meaning embedded in the mending practice through transcultural reproduction in art, design and fashion contexts.

Prior to living and working in London, Leren joined the Fashion Studies program at Parsons School of Design, deepening her understanding of sustainable issues in the fashion system as well as individual fashion practices. Her research concentrates on the role that craft and design can play in fashion sustainability. Working with craft makers and designers, she explores the creative possibilities and challenges of reducing, reusing and recycling.

Leren actively collaborates on an international scale, She is the researcher and international programme lead at China Design Museum. In London, She teaches History of British Fashion at New York University London campus. Beyond her academic endeavours, Leren holds the position of founder and chair at the educational charity, London Culture Salon, passionately dedicated to fostering cultural enrichment within the city.

@leren.li

Considered London's last passementerie maker, Jessica Light is an artisanal passementerie designer/maker with over 30 years of experience producing bespoke contemporary collections using heritage crafts dating back to the 15th century. She is a master handweaver incorporating traditional techniques in knotting, braiding, beading and macramé, and passionate about preserving passementerie that is on the Red List of endangered crafts in the UK.

Owner of her eponymous studio since 2008, she has designed and produced passementerie collections for the royal family, renown interior design studios, major retail department stores, luxury fashion designers/brands, historical properties, and film/stage. Clients include: Liberty’s of London, Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court, Frogmore Cottage, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Oscar de la Renta, Burberry, Fox Productions, Kylie Minogue and more. She has an extensive press portfolio and has had lecture and teaching engagements at arts and crafts institutions as well as advising on school curricula. Soon to be an author, Jessica is working on a book on passementerie to be published by Crowwood Press.

@jessica_light_

Jessica Pile is an embroidery artist and author with extensive design and production experience. She worked at the premiere bespoke embroidery studio Hand & Lock, London for 12 years and was the Managing & Production Director responsible for all domestic and international accounts/projects from scheduling, budgeting, client relationships and developing/overseeing all production and delivery. Her clients included the Royal Family, and top fashion brands such as Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton, Mary Katrantzou to name a few. She also created and taught workshops for clients such as the V&A Museum, The English National Opera and Apple, and has taught Online embroidery courses with Mastered.com in Tambour beading and goldwork. She was instrumental in the development and creation of the Hand and Lock asynchronous online courses.

Jessica is the author of the book Fashion Embroidery (2017), published by Batsford, that has sold over 10K copies worldwide. Besides her skills in embroidery, Jessica is unique in that she is also an experienced costume designer and pattern cutter with experience in the process and planning of couture fashion. Jessica is currently the director and founder of Norica Studios specialising in bespoke textile design and surface embellishments.

@jessicajane_pile