Ella Broek
Fashion Anthropologist

CONTACT:

ellabroek[@]
yahoo.com

BIO

Ella Broek is a dressmaker and anthropologist and currently an associate researcher at the Research Center for Material Culture. Her interests sit at the intersection of social sciences and cultural heritage studies on the one hand and the multidisciplinary field of (fashion) design, where craft, design and theory converge, on the other. Within this general focus, her current work takes agency as a primary topic, discussing and investigating materials (and their potential to act) within varying cultural traditions. Of particular note is her current research into the satorial tradition of the koto, a form of cultural dress worn by Surinamese women, for which she works with specific local Dutch-Surinamese communities in Rotterdam. Her crossover practice originated from her personal fascination with how clothing can be experienced and how that experience can ultimately be influenced through design processes. Aside from conducting fieldwork and working theoretically, part of her practice consists of desiging, fabricating and wearing costumes themselves. Also, she enjoyes collaborating with others to translate findings into (public)programs.

Ella Broek (b. 1980, NL) received her Msc in Social and Cultural Anthropology from VU University Amsterdam in 2016 and obtained her degree at the MTS Mode en Kleding and the Willem de Kooning Academy. She lives in Rotterdam.