Julia Keyte
- Subject Leader, Architecture, Interior Design and Product and Furniture Design
- Email: j.keyte@bathspa.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)1225 876773
- School: Bath School of Design

Personal statement
Julia Keyte is Course Leader for BA (Hons) Furniture and Product Design. She is a designer, experienced educator and researcher and is passionate about making as a basis for innovation.
Julia’s creative roots are in jewellery design. Her collections exploring precious metals and alternative materials became the basis for a practice that expanded across product design, packaging and textiles. Her work has been exhibited across the UK, Europe and in the US, and represented in international design awards and significant private collections.
Julia also publishes research on the unobserved emotional power of everyday possessions, and is excited about how the critical practice of design can reshape consumption.
She has established original practice-based methods for engaging audiences in active reflection on their practices of keeping possessions, and developed participatory activities and public events that bring together making, design, display, exchange and curation. Her research is published through peer reviewed academic journals such as Studies in Material Thinking and Interiors (Bloomsbury). Through her research Julia’s teaching is informed by cutting edge thinking, leading to new projects such as Thinking Keeping, with product designer Richard Evans and structural packaging designer Peter MacQueen.
Julia has a BA (Hons) from the internationally respected silversmithing and jewellery department at Edinburgh College of Art, and an MFA in product design from the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam.
Research and academic outputs
Thinking Keeping: a practice-led research project which focuses on the act of opening or breaking in to product packaging
book_section
Keyte, J, Evans, R and MacQueen, P (2016) 'Thinking Keeping: a practice-led research project which focuses on the act of opening or breaking in to product packaging.' In: Desmet, P.M.A, Fokkinga, S.F, Ludden, G.D.S, Cila, N and van Zuthem, H, eds. Celebration and contemplation: proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Design and Emotion, Amsterdam, September 27-30, 2016. The Design & Emotion Society, Amsterdam, pp. 744-753. ISBN 9789461867254
Objects in Purgatory brooch exchange: storytelling artefacts as agents for audience engagement
article
Keyte, J (2015) 'Objects in Purgatory brooch exchange: storytelling artefacts as agents for audience engagement.' Studies in Material Thinking, 13. ISSN 1177-6234
In the making: the ‘Power to the People’ workshop track at Crafting the Future
article
von Busch, O, Holroyd, A.T, Keyte, J, Yin, S.C, Ginsburg, H, Earley, R, Ballie, J and Hansson, H (2014) 'In the making: the ‘Power to the People’ workshop track at Crafting the Future.' The Design Journal, 17 (3). pp. 379-401. ISSN 1460-6925
Material meaning: investigating how meaning is organised and interpreted in industrial design practice
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Keyte, J (2021) Material meaning: investigating how meaning is organised and interpreted in industrial design practice. In: [ _ ] With Design: Reinventing Design Modes. IASDR 2021, 5 - 9 December 2021, Hong Kong / online.
Waste and makers: problem-based learning to address sustainability
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Keyte, J (2020) Waste and makers: problem-based learning to address sustainability. In: Teaching and Learning Conference 2020. Teaching in the spotlight: creative thinking to enhance the student experience – from curriculum design to student success, 7 July 2020, AdvanceHE [online].
Thinking Keeping: a practice-led research project which focuses on the act of opening or breaking in to product packaging
conference_item
Keyte, J, Evans, R and MacQueen, P (2016) Thinking Keeping: a practice-led research project which focuses on the act of opening or breaking in to product packaging. In: 10th Annual Conference on Design and Emotion, 27 - 30 September 2016, Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Hardware hopes : examining emotional connections to computers through creative story telling
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Keyte, J (2015) Hardware hopes : examining emotional connections to computers through creative story telling. In: PLATE (Product Lifetimes and the Environment) Conference, 17 - 19 June 2015, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK.
The alternative history of a Victorian washstand set
conference_item
Keyte, J (2014) The alternative history of a Victorian washstand set. In: ICDHS 2014 : Tradition, Transition, Trajectories - Major or Minor Influences?, 9-11 July 2014, Aveiro, Portugal.
The personal histories of things: keeping and caring
conference_item
Keyte, J (2014) The personal histories of things: keeping and caring. In: Custodians of Home, Conference of the Centre for Studies of Home, 31 January 2014, Geffreye Museum, London, UK.
Possessions unlimited
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Keyte, J (2012) Possessions unlimited. In: Sperkstret International Jewellery Conference, 10-12 October 2012, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Objects in purgatory: how we live with uncherished gifts
conference_item
Keyte, J (2012) Objects in purgatory: how we live with uncherished gifts. In: 8th International Design & Emotion Conference: Out of Control, 11 - 14 September 2012, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, London, UK.
Hands on - hands off on hitting your thumb with a virtual hammer
conference_item
Fisher, T, Keyte, J and Wood, N (2009) Hands on - hands off on hitting your thumb with a virtual hammer. In: Undisciplined! Design Research Society Conference 2008, 16-19 July 2008, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
Durable design: an opportunity for contemporary studio jewellery?
conference_item
Keyte, J (2007) Durable design: an opportunity for contemporary studio jewellery? In: EAD 07: 7th International Conference of the European Academy of Design, 11-13 May 2007, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey.
Hardware Hopes
exhibition
Keyte, J (2014) Hardware Hopes. In: Manchester Mini Maker Faire, Museum of Science of Industry, Manchester, UK, 26 July 2014.
Objects in purgatory: campaign badges
exhibition
Keyte, J (2013) Objects in purgatory: campaign badges. In: Praxis and Poetics: Research Through Design, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK, 3 - 5 September 2013.
The Campaign for Objects in Purgatory
exhibition
Keyte, J (2011) The Campaign for Objects in Purgatory. Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery, Sheffield, UK, May 2011.
Domestic plastic
exhibition
Keyte, J (2007) Domestic plastic. In: International Trade Fair, Munich, Munich, Germany, 2007.