Miriam Borcherdt is a fashion and textile designer, researcher and educator. She grew up between Germany and rural Italy, studied in the United States at the Rhode Island School of Design, and has worked in the design houses of Romeo Gigli in Milan and John Galliano in Paris. Miriam has been living in Australia since 1998, and was one of the founding members of the Perth-based Central Office of Design and Architecture (Coda Studio). In 1999 she founded ‘munk’, a progressive womenswear label that explores and extends upon her long-held preoccupation with—and research into—form, texture and surface pattern. In 2011 Miriam set aside the womenswear label to focus entirely on the munk FELT homeware range. Before that, in 2006, she co-founded and launched experimental retail store The Signet Bureau with Melbourne-based shoemakers Preston Zly. She also works with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre to create hand-crafted objects, and has taught at both RMIT and Monash University.