Rachel Lombard is an award-winning textile artist and designer. Living in County Durham, Rachel runs her own business creating functional, tactile and decorative artworks. She also runs a programme of talks and workshops. Rachel is the internal verifier for StitchBusiness City and Guilds courses and has written for Stitch, Classic Stitches and Flair magazines. She exhibits her work and is an active member of Fusion and InterfaceArts.Julia Triston is a designer-maker and educator in stitched textiles and contemporary art and design techniques. She is the co-founder and co-director of STITCHBUSINESS, an award-winning international stitch school. Julia has over 25 years’ experience teaching in the creative industries, lectures at degree level, and delivers seminars and training courses in universities, colleges and schools. She runs her own programme of workshops and talks, and also tutors courses for respected art and textile businesses nationwide. Julia’s work has been filmed by both the BBC and independent television companies, as well as being extensively documented in written media. Julia has an MA with distinction in Contemporary Applied Arts, is an active member of the prestigious Prism Textile Group and is Chair of Fusion. She has exhibited her quirky and distinctive artwork internationally.