Magic

Growing up, I would sit mesmerised by my grandmother's embroidered tablecloths, running my fingers over the intricate stitches, feeling something I couldn't yet put into words. There was a life-force woven into those threads—a shimmer, an aliveness that spoke of worlds beyond the visible. My Slavic ancestors knew what modernity has forgotten: that textiles hold fragments of the maker's soul, that every stitch carries intention, that creating cloth is an act of world-making.

This knowing lived in my body long before I had words for it. It's what drew me into fashion-textiles in the first place, what kept me in the industry even when it felt so disconnected. This is what has led me to devoting almost twenty years to this space, seeking and reconnecting to the sacredness and magic within fashion-textiles, that has been systematically stripped away.

AWAKENING

My journey began conventionally—interning at Vivienne Westwood's London couture studio, then managing the Florence Deschamps showroom in Paris for several years, working with high-end boutiques and department stores across the world. But a few years in, I'd had enough of these spaces rooted in scarcity, competition, and hyper-individualism. I began researching sustainability online, which led me to working with a fair-trade women's workshop in northern India, establishing my own sustainable label, and consulting other brands on sustainable supply chain and production practices. These experiences filled my archive with industry tales, some hilarious and glamorous, others shocking, revealing fashion's multifaceted complexity. But behind the facade, I witnessed an industry grappling with disconnection. Values and ethics sidelined. Care for people and the planet became secondary to profits, speed, efficiency, extraction and control. What I always felt was missing but couldn’t quite articulate, became more apparent. What I was yearning for was an industry built on reverence, reciprocity, care, responsibility and aliveness.

This catalysed a deeper questioning that led me to pursue a master's in Fashion Futures at the London College of Fashion. Under the mentorship of sustainability pioneers Kate Fletcher, Alex McIntosh and others, my world transformed. I discovered fashion's place within the broader web of life and I began exploring fashion-textiles with my personal values rooted in spirituality, ecology, embodiment, and more.

RECONNECTING

Returning to Australia, with more to explore, I began teaching at UTS and UTS College while embarking on a practice-led PhD supervised by Timo Rissanen and Cameron Tonkinwise. For four years, I investigated the concept of a pluriverse, and how this could emerge within fashion-textiles. I developed holistic methodologies that embraced relational, place-based, autonomous approaches that integrated spirit, heart, mind, and body into how we make and inquire about fashion-textiles.

During this time, I also founded the Sustainability 5.0 online fashion community, hosted the Spirit of Design podcast, and became a contributor for The Lissome, a leading sustainable fashion print publication.

Through my research, and my own explorations, I began reconnecting to what my ancestors knew before patriarchal and Christian dominance erased pagan belief systems: creating cloth was mythological—preserving sacred knowledge as threads wove past, present, and future worlds together. The creation of materials, garments and their processes had the power to influence and shape reality.

Parallel to my professional journey, I've dedicated over 15 years to personal development and transformative inner work. My exploration spans meditation, yoga, visioning, embodiment, archetypal work, hypnosis, energetics, sacred sexuality, and more. This depth of personal work has profoundly shaped my approach to sustainability and fashion-textiles. Completing of a 2-year Shamanic Immersion 'LuminoGaia' with Luna Wood further deepened my understanding of sustainability.

WEAVING WORLDS

Today, my work bridges these ancient wisdoms with contemporary practice. Through embodied, relational approaches rooted in my PhD research, I guide visionary creatives, entrepreneurs, and scholars in reconnecting to the life-force within fashion-textiles—the ancient aliveness that modernity has systematically separated us from.

I help people remember that fashion-textiles is a sacred practice of world-making, where sustainability emerges naturally through right relationship with ecosystems, materials, tools, and the entire web of life. Through 1-on-1 mentoring, workshops, and speaking engagements, I create spaces for experiences that empower individuals and communities to discover different possibilities.

GRATITUDE

We don't do anything alone. My work is an emergence from the vast web of life, a continuous tapestry of relationships that sustains and nourishes me.

In the spirit of relationality, reciprocity, and reverence, I offer so much gratitude to my teachers, mentors, guides, places and ancestors who have shaped my journey as well as the rich and diverse human and other-than-human communities that form the foundation of my praxis.

I acknowledge the sacred landscapes and elemental spirits that have held and continue to hold me, including the unceded lands of Naarm, Meanjin, Gadigal, Worimi, Bundjalung, and Gayemagal. Deep appreciation to Annelijn Hooij and Elizabeth Curtis-Walker for their photography and filmmaking magic.

ania zoltkowski