JOSEFINA VIDAL MIRANDA




I am a Chilean researcher and writer, currently based in London, working at the intersection of cultural studies and design theory. I use creative methods and writing to tell stories.

Since 2017, I have studied women-led textile practices in Chile — women who weave, make, remember, and protect their territories . Their ways of making hold lessons in care, resilience and belonging to nature, which I study as an act of attention, believing that to stay with these practices is already to begin changing the narratives we live by.


✉ jfividalmiranda@gmail.com

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Academia
C.V. 




Education
2023–present
PhD Culture, Media and Creative Industries, King's College London

Fully funded by LAHP

2022
Diploma in Aesthetics, 
Feminism and Critique,
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

2020–2021
MA in Cultural and Creative Industries,
King's College London

Fully funded by CONICYT 
(National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile) 

Pass with distinction

2015–2016
Art History, Student Exchange Programme, Freie Universität Berlin

2011–2017
Design
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Pass with distinction


Teaching experience 2026
Graduate Teaching Assistant. Gender & Media module – Culture, Media and Creative Industries Department, King's College London

2025
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Culture & Identity module – Culture, Media and Creative Industries Department, King's College London

2023–2022
Lecturer, Ideation and Formalisation workshop – School of Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago

2023–2022
Lecturer, Publish as a Project module – School of Architecture, Universidad Andrés Bello, Viña del Mar, Chile

2022–2021
Lecturer, History and Culture of Design and Theory and Critique of Design modules – School of Design, Universidad de Chile, Santiago

2022
Lecturer, Development of a Graphic Brand for a Recognisable Identity – Digital Leaders Network for the Refugee and Migrant Community, organised by Fundación Mapocho and The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

2021–2020
Guest Lecturer, From Plain to Textile Volume module – School of Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago

2017
Teaching Assistant, History of Design module – School of Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago

2016
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Design module – School of Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago


Research2022-2025
Head of Research, Biografías de artesanías: mujeres creando en prisión (Biographies of Crafts: Women Creating in Prison), funded by National Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts in Chile (Fondart)

2019–2018
Head of Research, Moda al paso: Historia de las boutiques y pequeñas tiendas de vestuario de la zona Oriente de Santiago 1967–1987, funded by National Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts (Fondart)

2018–2017
Research Assistant, Diseño Nacional, funded by National Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts (Fondart)



Books &
Book chapters

Books

2025
Biografías de artesanías: Mujeres creando en prisión y exilio 1973-1990
Self-published

2022
Encontrar el ella: Codiseñando una memoria feminista del diseño
PUBLICAR.
ISBN 978-956-410-398-3


Book Chapters

2025
"They weave and I remember"
in Making Kin II  
Cthulhu Books
Madrid





Peer Reviewed
Articles &
Chapters Vidal, J., García, M., and Álvarez, P. (2020). "Boutiques and prêt-à-porter in Santiago de Chile: A Formula for Women's Modernity (1967–1973)". Journal of Design History, 33/4

Vidal, J. (2023). "Moda autóctona: una mirada despatriarcalizadora". RChD: Creación Y Pensamiento, 8(15), 21–31

Vidal, J. (2018). "Paisaje y Dinámicas de Interacción Social en Providencia: Moda y Prêt-à-porter Chileno 1967–1987". Revista Chilena de Diseño (RChD), 3/5

Vidal, J., and Álvarez, P. (2018). "The Prêt-à-porter Phenomenon and the boutiques in the downtown area of Santiago, Chile" in Broega et al., Reverse Design: A current scientific vision from the international fashion and design congress. Taylor & Francis Group: London


Conference Papers2025
"Writing with Baskets: Translating the Basketry Gestures into Writing" in Weaving, Language, Writing, University of Angers

2023
"Cuadernos de reflexiones y objetos feministas: subvertir el mandato en la historia del diseño" (Reflections Journals and Feminist Objects: Subverting the Mandate in Design History), Intersecciones Congress, Santiago, Chile

2022
"Remembering from the Material: Unveiling Affections in Prison", 3rd EUI Conference in Visual and Material Culture Studies (Virtual)

2019
"Laura Rivas: Weaver of Coincidences", II Colloquium of Researchers in Textile and Fashion, Museum of Design, Barcelona, Spain

2019
"Boutiques and Prêt-à-porter in SCL: a Formula for Feminine Modernity", Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, School of Design, Santiago de Chile

2018
"The arrival of Ready-to-wear in Chile: The Visual Imagination of National Fashion", VIII Seminar of Research in Design, Biobío, Chile

2018
"From Carnaby Street to Providencia: Distance as identity in Chilean Ready-to-wear", IV Conference on Objects and Material Culture, National Historical Museum of Chile, Santiago

2018
"The phenomenon of Ready-to-wear and Boutiques in Santiago de Chile", IV International Congress on Fashion and Design (CIMODE), Madrid, Spain




Grants 
& AwardsLAHP Impact, Engagement and Entrepreneurship Fund (2025)

Craft Research Fund for Dissemination – Chilean National Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts (2024)

AHRC London Arts and Humanities Partnership Research Studentship (2023)

Craft Research Fund for Research – Chilean National Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts (2022)

Best Arts-Based Research Project – King's College London (2021)

Best Overall Student on Taught Components in MA Cultural and Creative Industries – King's College London (2021)

CONICYT Full Scholarship for MA studies at King's College London (2019)

Award in Recognition of the Best Degree Projects with Maximum Distinction – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2017)



Academic Service
Committee Member – LARC (Latin American Research Community of PhDs in London) (2023–present)                 








Last Updated 22.01.26

PROJECTS






1.    Biografías de artesanías
      Biographies of Crafts



The documentary and the book were funded by Fondart
[Chilean National Fund for the Development of Culture and the Arts].Between 1973 and 1990, during the Chilean dictatorship, women held as political prisoners or in exile made handcrafts — arpilleras, weavings, and small embroideries. This research project uses the biography of these objects as a way to reconstruct the memories of twelve women, interviewed about their experiences of prison and exile.

In 2023, the project completed its first stage with the redesign of the prison craft section at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago, where new objects were incorporated alongside a documentary film into the permanent display. In 2025, the book Biografías de artesanías: Mujeres creando en prisión y exilio 1973–1990 was published, containing twelve object biographies alongside educational activities designed for young readers — a way of ensuring these stories continue to be told. The book was freely distributed across public libraries in Chile.

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Watch the documentary here

Essay (in Spanish) for Anfibia






2.    They Weave and I Remember
Chapter for the book Makin Kin: Plant series,
published by Cthulhu books.

In Catalina Imizcoz's words: "They Weave and I Remember is an appreciation of interconnectedness on material, emotional, historical and political levels. A story that narrates the simple journeys of baskets since their inception, and meanwhile invites readers to reflect on the intricacies of health, community, domestic life and social positionality, womanhood and expertise. A one-of-a-kind tale reverberating with hidden messages and deep wisdom."

Buy here







3.    Finding the She: 
       Co-designing a Feminist Design Memory

When I studied Design at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, women were almost entirely absent from the history of the discipline. Ten years after taking the History of Design module, I returned to it with two questions: how are women represented in its required readings, and how do female students experience that representation?

Analysing the course materials and working closely with eleven female students, we built together an archive of eleven objects — each one a counter-narrative to the androcentric canon. The research became a book, written and designed by me, launched with a small exhibition in Santiago. This work has led to contributions to platforms such as Futuress.





4.    Tiempo sin lluvia

Tiempo sin lluvia is an artist's book, written and designed by me, that explores how memory emerges through the act of reading. Reading Cynan Jones's The Long Dry — translated into Spanish as Tiempo sin lluvia by Esther Cross — I wrote my own version of the book, where my memories blur with the experiences narrated by the author.








5.    Moda al Paso
Between 1967 and 1987, a network of boutiques transformed the streets of Providencia in Santiago, bringing the language of prêt-à-porter into a Chilean context. These were small fashion businesses where women participated at every level — copying trends, making clothes, and running the shops.

Combining archival research and oral history from more than twenty-two interviewees, the project traces how these women shaped Chilean visual culture from the inside. The research has been disseminated at academic conferences in Santiago, Madrid and Barcelona, and published in journals including the Journal of Design History.

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