Dr Astfalck is Professor at the Faculty of the Arts, Design & Media (ADM), Birmingham City University (BCU) and combines her studio practice, which she exhibits internationally, with teaching as the MA Course Director for Jewellery, Silversmithing and Related Product. In 2013 she became Director of the new Research Centre for Creative Making: S.T.U.F.F. (Sensuous Technologies Underpinning Fabulous Futures).

Her main focus and research interest is in using hermeneutic philosophy, literary theory and other appropriate thought models as tools to investigate narrative structures embedded in body related crafts objects. In her view, the convergence of crafts, design and fine art practices is conducive to extending the theoretical vocabulary and map out new territories where crafts practices contribute to cultural production and dissemination.

Her publications include:

Lifelines, in ‘SchmuckDenken’, W. Lindemann (Hg.) & FH Trier | Idar-Oberstein, Arnoldsche Arts Publishers, Germany; TableManners, TR11/01, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, 2011; Traditional craft: manufactured nostalgia or grass-root resistance?, The Journal of Modern Crafts’ (online), Murray, K. (ed.), 2009; Lifelines, in ‘The International Journal of the Arts in Society’, volume 3, number 1, 2008; Difference and Resemblance in ‘Six Views on a Practice in Change’, Crafts In Dialogue-IASPIS, Stockholm, 2005.

Commissions include:

StoryMeadow, participatory installation commissioned by Craftspace, at (new) Library of Birmingham; Going Places, for Architecture Week and New Generation Art (NGA), Birmingham UK, 2007; Hide, for ‘Self’, Craftspace & Angel Row Gallery & Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, UK, 2004; On Memory and Loss, for ‘Acknowledged Sources’ exhibition project, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, UK, 2001.

Her past art/jewellery projects include 'This is Me', in which she worked with a group of Irish Traveller Women in Brent, culminating in an exhibition and publication of a book, which was launched at the Irish Embassy in London and 'Before/After' in which she worked with a group of London based refugees from Bosnia Hertegovina, providing a space for the women to come together, using creativity and making as a tool to instigate conversations and to share stories between people who usually remained isolated. Her research interests include the making economy, performativity, aesthetics, urban studies and cultural policy.

 Her publications include:

(In Print) Review Tapa of the Pacific, The Journal of Museum Ethnography. THE CURATORIAL CHALLENGES SUSPENDING COLOURS, Findings Magazine Issue, 2014. 59 P.3-5. Suspended in Pink. Edited by Laura Bradshaw-Heap. 2013, BCU, Birmingham; Can participatory art methods positively impact art jewellery practices and if so how? Metronome: Journal of Postgraduate Research. London Metropolitan University, 2012, pp.43-52; Masterclass: Authenticity in the age of stylesurfing. Findings Magazine, Issue 51. p.15.

Her Curated Exhibtions include:

Suspended in Green. Open Call, Juried Exhibition (by Mah Rana and David Clarke) V&V, Vienna January-March 2014; Studio Gabi Green, Munich March 2014; Lesley Craze Gallery, London August-September 2014; 2017, Sydney July 2015. Suspended in Pink. Open Call, Juried Exhibition (by Laura Potter and Timothy Information Limited) The School of Jewellery January 2013; Studio Gabi Green, March 2013; Viaduc des Arts, Paris; November 2013, V&V; Vienna January-March 2014.

Her Exhibitions include:

Revolt, Touring exhibition, including Legnica Silver Festival, 2013-14 Poland, JOYA Contemporary Jewellery Fair, Barcelona, Inhorgenta Munich Fair, Munich, Germany, N Gallery, Jablonec, Czech Republic and Beit Meirov Gallery, Israel. Spectrum; The School of Jewellery, 2013. Premio Fondazione Cominelli per il Gioiello Contemporaneo, Italy, 2012. SIERAAD Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2012 . Suspended. Munich, Germany 2012. Schmuck Show Munich, Germany 2012 . Dialogue Collective Pop Up Shop, London, 2010 . Effervescence II, West Dean College, Chichester. 2007/8. Recycled-RE-use-Reclaim, Ferrers Gallery, Ashby de la Zouch. 2008.

Rachel is a mixed media jeweller, researcher and project developer: her current body of work, ‘Lovingly Murdered’ investigates humanity’s predisposition for violence. This work has been shown at the Annual Marzee Graduate Selection of Graduate Work 2013 (11.08.13) and as part of the touring exhibition SENSEability, co-curated with Drew Markou, in three venues: Studio Gabi Green, Munich, Germany 12th-15th March 2015 as part of Schmuck week; Victoria Sewart Contemporary Jewellery Gallery, Plymouth,UK, May 8th-10th 2015; and Galerie VundV, Vienna, Austria, May 28th-July 18th 2015.   She also produces jewellery that is an expression of her environmental interests which is made from low density polythene reclaimed from post-industrial processes. This recycled jewellery is currently sold in galleries across the UK and has featured in the publications Recycling: Forms for the Next Century – Austerity for Posterity, Craftspace Touring, Birmingham, 1996; and Sustainable Jewellery, Manheim, J, A & C Black, London, 2009. Exhibitions include: Recycling, Crafts Council, London 1996; Recycling, Ferrers Gallery, Leicestershire, 2011; Black and Red, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno 2011; Jewellery Showcase - Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2011; and Reclaimed, The Galanthus Gallery, Herefordshire, 2009