The Art of Design

Rachel Fitzpatrick is an artist, designer and PhD researcher whose work sits at the intersections of creative health, social practice and material culture. Based in Northern Ireland Rachel works with tactile materials and participatory processes that foreground agency, sensory engagement and relational meaning-making. She is currently undertaking doctoral research at the Belfast School of Art in Ulster University that explores creative responses to lived difference and transformation with methods grounded in collaborative making and co-production with people living with ABI. 

Rachel’s creative practice spans international design commissions with socially engaged workshops and community-driven projects. Her work has been exhibited at events including the Venice Architecture Biennale and has been commissioned to create installations for Peugeot, Paris & Berlin, and in Bergdorf Goodman, NYC. Recently, she co-facilitated multi-session creative engagements with people living with acquired brain injury (ABI), foregrounding their lived experience in the co-creation of installations that speak to resilience, identity and reframing after trauma. This work was recognised by the Jameel Arts and Health Lab, WHO and the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College, Dublin.

Alongside her studio and research practice, Rachel contributes to arts and cultural strategy through teaching, mentorship and board roles. She is committed to reframing institutional relationships with audiences and collections in ways that embrace care, equity and shared knowledge.