Cheryl Buckley (born 1956) is a British design historian whose research has focused on feminist approaches to design history. She has published on British ceramic design and

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

. Her works include the influential article "Made in Patriarchy: Toward a Feminist Analysis of Women and Design" (1986) and the books ''Potters and Paintresses'' (1990) and ''Designing Modern Britain'' (2007). She was professor of professor of design history at

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = ...

and subsequently she was Professor of fashion and design history at the

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achiev ...

, and from 2021, she is Emerita Professor at the University of Brighton.

Education and career

Buckley attended the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, gaining a degree in

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

and architecture (1977). She received a masters degree in design history from

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

(1982). She returned to the University of East Anglia for her PhD in design history, awarded in 1991. She worked from 1980 at Newcastle Polytechnic in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the la ...

, renamed

in 1992, latterly as professor of design history, before joining the

in 2013, where she is professor of

and design history. In 2017, she and Jeremy Aynsley established the Centre for Design History at Brighton. In 2000, she co-founded the journal ''

Visual Culture in Britain ''Visual Culture in Britain'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering visual culture in Great Britain published by Taylor & Francis. It is abstracted and indexed by the British Humanities Index The British Humanities Index is a da ...

''. She chaired the Design History Society (2006–09) and served as editor-in-chief of its journal, the '' Journal of Design History'' (2011–16).

Research and writings

Buckley states her current research interests as

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...

and design, and has been described as a feminist design historian. She has published on ceramic design and fashion, focusing on Britain from the mid-

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...

to the present day. Her article "Made in Patriarchy: Toward a Feminist Analysis of Women and Design", published in ''

Design Issues ''Design Issues'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering design history, theory, and criticism. The journal typically includes theoretical and critical articles, book reviews, and illustrations. ''Design Issues'' was established in 1984 and ...

'' in 1986, opens: In the article, described as "seminal" by

Victor Margolin Victor Margolin (1941–2019) was an American design historian, researcher and educator. He was a Professor of design history at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where he taught from 1982 until 2006. Margolin published widely and was the found ...

and "ground-breaking" by Grace Lees-Maffei, Buckley teases out design contributions made by women, and suggests that craft arts have been ignored in the study of design history. Margolin critiques Buckley's article for overlooking design-related technologies, where he states many inventions by women have been documented. In 2021, she published an article that reflected on these themes several decades later in ‘Re-searching Women and Design’, in, eds. Mareis, C & Paim, N, Design Struggles, Plural, Valiz, Amsterdam, 2021. In her first book, ''Potters and Paintresses: Women Designers in the Pottery Industry, 1870–1955'' (1990), Buckley discusses the participation of women in ceramic design during this period, and in particular the methods by which they have successfully negotiated their lives as designers. Her PhD formed the basis for this book, entitled "Women designers in the north Staffordshire pottery industry, 1914–1940". In ''Fashioning the Feminine: Representation and Women's Fashion from the Fin de Siècle to the Present'' (2002), Buckley and co-author Hilary Fawcett review fashion in Britain from 1890, highlighting its interaction with both

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered ...

. In 2007 , she wrote her third book ''Designing Modern Britain'', in which she surveyed British design between 1890 and 2001, broadly chronologically via numerous case studies. She employs a broad definition of design, which she considers "a matrix of interdependent practices", encompassing

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

town planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and po ...

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

s, fashion and

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...

. More recently, Buckley co-authored with Hazel Clark, ''Fashion and Everyday Life: London and New York'' that explores the ways in which fashion is part of everyday lives focusing on London and New York in the 2oth century.(2017).

Selected publications

Books Source: * * * * Research articles * *

References

External link

Profile at the University of Brighton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Cheryl 1956 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of Newcastle University Academics of Northumbria University Academics of the University of Brighton Design researchers Social historians Women art historians 20th-century English historians 21st-century English historians 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers