ania zoltkowski
ania zoltkowski
Growing up, I was mesmerised by my Polish grandmother's embroidered tablecloths.
Observing them, I taught myself to stitch.
Within these pieces, I could feel something I couldn't yet put into words—there was a life-force woven into those cloths, an aliveness that spoke of worlds beyond the visible.
It was this energy that drew me to fashion in the first place, and has been my anchor for almost 20 years—searching for & trying to understand this life-force, this magic within fashion-textiles, and now helping others (re)connect to this.
My journey began conventionally—studying fashion design, working at Vivienne Westwood's London couture studio, then moving to Paris and managing the Florence Deschamps showroom, working with high-end boutiques and designers all across the world.
From the outside it appeared I was living the ‘dream’, but on the inside I was feeling disconnected, depleted, and frustrated by the industry, as its values of scarcity, competition, extraction, hyper-individualism, and massive disconnection were becoming more apparent everyday.
I was yearning for was an industry built on reverence, reciprocity, care, responsibility and aliveness.
I was yearning for that ‘life-force’ I once felt.
I left this world & began researching sustainability online in my spare time, which led me to working with a fair-trade women's workshop in India, and founding my own label, as well as consulting other brands in sustainable production.
A few years into this, and I knew there was more to learn.
This led me to pursuing a master's in Fashion Futures at the London College of Fashion, and under the mentorship of sustainability pioneers Kate Fletcher, Alex McIntosh and others, my whole world transformed.
I discovered fashion's place within the broader web of life and began exploring the field through my personal values rooted in spirituality, ecologies, embodiment, place and more.
That feeling of ‘life-force’ - it had returned!
During this time I also had my first spiritual awakening—meaning, my consciousness and worldview started rapidly expanding and shifting.
I began connecting to the inner and invisible realms and started devoting my time and energy to healing, growth and transformative inner work.
For almost 15 years I have been privileged to study under various teachers and lineages, learning through the modalities of meditation, reiki, kundalini yoga, visioning, embodiment & somatics, archetypal work, hypnosis, subconscious reprogramming, energetics, shadow work, sacred sexuality, shamanism and more.
Returning to Sydney, Australia, I entered the world of academia as a teacher & researcher and embarked on a practice-led PhD supervised by Timo Rissanen and Cameron Tonkinwise. For years I deeply immersed myself into the concept of a pluriverse—a worldview I became OBSESSED with as a holistic approach for living and creating in the world.
I spent four years marinating and embodying all that I had learnt to date, as well as developing a range of creative methods and methodologies grounded in relational, place-based, sovereign and whole approaches that integrated spirit, heart, mind, and body for fashion-textiles.
My life-force was ON FIRE.
It was during this time that I also co-founded the Sustainability 5.0 online fashion community and the Spirit of Design podcast, and became a regular contributor & advisor for The Lissome, a leading sustainable fashion publication.
I began reconnecting to what my ancestors knew before patriarchal and Christian dominance erased pagan belief systems: creating clothing & textiles was a sacred act rooted in ritual, intentionality & community.
Sacred knowledge was preserved 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.
Today, I am an independent educator, researcher and practitioner, specialising in regenerative approaches for fashion-textiles.
Based on my doctoral research in pluriversal fashion-textiles, I've developed frameworks that help practitioners move from extractive to regenerative paradigms - reconnecting work to the sacred and relational.
My mission is to guide designers, scholars, leaders, visionaries and organisations towards more intentional practices for creating, doing research and business in the world.
My vision is clear—to reconnect you to the magic and
life-force that lives within fashion-textiles, within creating, within this beautiful Earth, within yourself.
I’m so happy you’re here. Let’s play!
We don't do anything alone and this work has emerged through me as a result of the vast web of relationships that I have nurtured me.
I am grateful to my teachers Luna Wood & Pilar Lesko, as well as Layla Martin, Kasia Urbaniak, Carolyn Lovewell, Ezzie Spencer, Hayley Carr, Jade Lesha, Kate Fletcher, and others.
I acknowledge the places, elements, more-than-humans, and ancestors that have held and continue to hold me. I am in gratitude to the caretakers of the unceded lands of Naarm, Meanjin, Gadigal, Worimi, Bundjalung, and Gayemagal. I also acknowledge the lands and wisdom of my western Slavic ancestors.
I appreciate Annelijn Hooij and Elizabeth Curtis-Walker for their photography and filmmaking magic.