A new room for a doomed loom – and the battle to save Australia’s slowly dying crafts

When a university's rare weaving device was destined for the skip, a collective of artists, teachers and students united to rescue it. They bemoan how course changes are replacing deep skills with competency checklists

Rachel, bad news," the text message read. They're disconnecting the loom tomorrow."

Rachel Halton still doesn't know who made the decision, in October 2022, to summarily decommission the $160,000 Jacquard loom that had been a cornerstone of RMIT's renowned weaving and textile design courses for 20 years.