Doctor, Tutor
School of Humanities
Departments of History of Design and Critical & Historical Studies

hod@rca.ac.uk
chs@rca.ac.uk

Dr Sarah Teasley is a historian of product and furniture design and manufacturing in Japan since the mid-nineteenth century. Her current research looks at the impact of new media and technological innovation on the design process, and on the formation of design as a profession, industry and academic discipline. Other interests include gender and design, and the relationship between the design industry and imperial expansion in modern Japan. She is active in design and architectural history communities in Japan, the UK and North America, and has published and lectured widely. Full-length publications include the co-edited book Global Design History (Routledge, forthcoming) and 20th Century Design History (Petit Grand Publishing, 2005).

At the RCA, she serves as a tutor in History of Design, and as Critical & Historical Studies Liaison Tutor for the departments of Design Interactions, Design Products and Innovation Design Engineering.

Dr Sarah Teasley received her PhD from the Department of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies of the University of Tokyo. She also holds degrees from Princeton University (AB) and Musashino Art University (MA).

Prior to joining the RCA in January 2009, Dr Teasley was Assistant Professor at Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She has been a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative on Information Studies and Musashino Art University, and is a Research Associate of the Japan Research Centre at the University of London School of Oriental and Asian Studies. She is Vice President of the Design Studies Forum.

Recently, she has given talks at Osaka University, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Serpentine Gallery. Juried conference presentations in the 2008/9 academic year included papers at the International Conference on Design History and Studies in Osaka; WhosEA2009: International Conference on East Asian Architectural Culture in Taiwan; and the Annual Meeting of the College Art Association.