About
I'm Ophelia! A Welsh textile designer and educator based in Cardiff. Through my practice I create educational content, to inform and encourage conversation around climate justice and equality, the over-consumption, waste and psychology of fashion. My textile works also serve as a visual reminder of fashions changing attitude towards sustainability; inspiring others to give old clothes a second chance.
Collaborating with communities, I focus on skill sharing as a powerful tool to explore the complexities of climate change, driving participation and action. Facilitating workshops with local charities and organisations, I demonstrate how simple embroidery techniques can be used to mend and reinvent clothing. Learning to sew is a purposeful activity, that can bring people of different age groups, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds together – giving people the ability to build confidence and practical life skills.
I continue to develop more accessible methods of teaching, acknowledging that climate activism must amplify the voices of marginalised groups; Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples, people of all disabilities and LGBT+ communities.
Education & Training
Creative Agent Training by Arts Council Wales, 2022.
Equal Power Equal Voice mentoring by EYST, WEN, Stonewall Cymru and Disability Wales, 2022.
Child Safeguarding by Children in Wales, 2020.
BA Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors, Bath Spa University, 2019.
Project Producer
Project Producer and Co-ordinator of Madaraja at Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel: Working with creatives of all ethnicities (with an emphasis on Black voices in Wales) and those in the African continent. Ongoing position. https://www.ssap.org.uk/pages/madarajapontbridges
Producer & Narrator
Producer and narrator of the short documentary film 'Moving to Make It'. This follows my dilemma as a Welsh creative, will I leave Wales to pursue my career? BBC TWO Wales, It's My Shout Productions, 2021.
Watch on iPlayer, New Voices from Wales, Ep 2:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000tlz6/new-voices-from-wales-series-4-2-moving-to-make-it
Workshop Collaborations
University College London
South Riverside Community Development Centre
Women Seeking Sanctuary Advocacy Group Wales
Welsh Centre for International Affairs
Wales Millennium Centre
Ways of Working
National Museum Wales
Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel
Jukebox Collective
WWF Cymru
Talk To Coco
HUB Cymru Africa
Speaking
Co-host of Welsh, Gifted and Black podcast, 2022.
Chair of The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion Event, hosted by The Sustainable Studio and Pluto Press. 2022.
Panel of Fair Trade Wales: Fair Fashion? A Conversation on Fashion, Race and Climate Justice. 2022.
Panel of Sustainable Fashion: The Independent Perspective. 2022.
Panel of FOOTPRINTS Digital Festival: Moving on From Fast Fashion. National Museum Wales, 2021.
Panel of Histories of Making During States of Emergency, 2021.
Exhibit
Welsh, Gifted and Black, Black Joy Exhibition, Cardiff, 2022.
OPHELIA DOS SANTOS x VANS, Vans Store, Cardiff, 2022.
Ways of Working Exhibit, Welsh Millennium Centre, 2022.
SUNDAZE Exhibit by Jukebox Collective, Cardiff, 2021.
LOOPHOLES, Craft Central, London, 2021.
FOR CARDIFF online exhibit, Creatives of the Capital, 2021.
ARTS THREAD online showcase, Take Back Black Friday, 2019.
The Old Street Gallery, London, 2019.
The Castle Emporium, Cardiff, 2019.
Bath Spa Graduate Exhibit, Bath, 2019.
China Academy of Art Graduate Show, Shanghai, 2018.
Links
BLOG: BUILDING THE CLIMATE REVOLUTION WITHIN FASHION – TIPS FROM OPHELIA DOS SANTOS https://sizeofwales.org.uk/blog-building-the-climate-revolution-within-fashion/
Fashion Revolution Week 2022 – an interview with Ophelia Dos Santos
https://fairtrade.wales/2022/04/fashion-revolution-week-2022/