In-conversation with Matthew McIntyre Wilson

Designer and artist Matthew McIntyre Wilson (based in Whanganui, Aotearoa) is a practitioner whose work brings together Māori cultural practices, museological inquiry, and contemporary craft. Matthew is spending April in Dundee visiting Scottish museum collections of taonga (an object or natural resource which is highly prized) and exploring the importance of natural materials and traditions in Scottish textiles.

Join UNESCO City of Design Dundee for a relaxed in-conversation event where some of the key themes of Matthew’s work will be explored.

This talk is a part of Textile Legacies, a residency programme that connects indigenous and ancestral textile practices between Whanganui, New Zealand, and Dundee to foster meaningful cultural and creative exchange, coordinated by UNESCO City of Design Dundee and UNESCO City of Design Whanganui. It is supported by the British Council New Zealand and the Pacific’s Connections Through Culture Programme and Scottish Government’s Scottish Connections Fund.

Matthew is one of two designers selected for the residency, alongside Dundee-based Hannah Sabapathy. 

The Textile Legacies programme will see the designers exchange cities in 2026, with Sabapathy arriving in Whanganui in March and Wilson departing for Dundee in April. The initiative marks the first formal creative exchange between the two cities since both achieved UNESCO City of Design status.

Selected by international and local panellists, the designers will each spend a month learning and sharing with the local design community, bringing unique cultural perspectives that will broaden creative practices in both cities.

Both Whanganui and Dundee have long-standing textile traditions that are powerful expressions of place-based cultural identity. The long-standing textile traditions of Whanganui and Dundee are powerful expressions of place-based cultural identity. Simultaneously, these histories also carry complex legacies — including the impacts of colonisation, war, and cultural suppression — which have shaped and, at times, disrupted cultural development. The resurgence of traditional textile techniques provides an opportunity for design heritage to shape contemporary identities and creative practices.

About the Speaker

Matthew McIntyre Wilson (Taranaki, Ngā Māhanga, Tītahi) is a practitioner whose work brings together Māori cultural practices, museological inquiry, and contemporary craft. Based in Whanganui, Aotearoa, his practice is grounded in a sustained commitment to revitalising ancestral knowledge while expanding the possibilities of object-making today. Trained initially as a jeweller at Whitireia Polytechnic and Hawke’s Bay Polytechnic, his early focus on fine metalwork later converged with the weaving knowledge he learned under the guidance of master weaver and close friend Rangi Kiu. This convergence created a distinct practice in which jewellery and fibre technologies intertwine, enabling him to create intricately woven forms such as kete, tātua, armbands, and kākahu using both customary and contemporary materials.