About
Founded in 2019 by Laura Moseley, Common Threads Press is a small, independent publisher of books and zines that uplift histories of creative work.
Our publications are written and developed in close collaboration with academics and artists alike, from all around the world, who share our deep love and critical interest in craft histories.
We are inspired by and indebted to the rich history of independent, grassroots publishing that centres voices from the margins — spotlighting the political and cultural relevance of crafts that has long been overlooked or dismissed in mainstream publishing.
What is a zine?
A zine is a small, self-published or handmade booklet that nurtures radical action. They can be an artwork, an act of documentation or an educational resource — but crucially they are anything you want it to be. The designation ‘zine’ signifies less about the content of the publication than it indicates its existence outside of mainstream publishing channels. For hundreds of years, zines have served underrepresented communities, uplifting the voices of those most frequently dismissed.
About the Team
Laura Moseley is Curator of the Women’s Art Collection at the University of Cambridge and Founder of Common Threads Press.
She holds a BA in History of Art from the University of York, where she received the dissertation prize for her thesis Indigenous and Modern Textiles: Ancient America in the Work of Anni Albers and Cecilia Vicuña. She also holds an MA in History of Art from University College London, where she again received the dissertation prize for A Diary of Touch: Rhetorics of Queer Identity in Contemporary Quilting Practices.
Common Threads Press was founded in 2019, originally under the name Made by Women, following Laura’s undergraduate studies. The project was established in response to a desire to broaden access to art history and publishing, making space for contributors from a wider range of disciplines, backgrounds, and financial circumstances. Early formative experiences included producing zines as a teenager and serving as President of the University of York Feminist Society. The project’s first funding came through the Santander Student Business Competition at the University of York, which Laura won in 2019.
Laura has worked with institutions including the Pitt Rivers Museum, Latitude Festival, Kettle’s Yard, Cardiff University, and the Royal School of Needlework on projects relating to social art histories, activist materials, and political textiles.
Chris Shortt [he/him] is a Mancunian graphic designer and editor, based in London. He is interested in the intersection of politics, class and visual culture, and his practice looks to foreground art and design as instruments of social change.
Chris has designed publications for Tate Publishing, Norfolk Museums, and the University of East Anglia, alongside his full-time job in book sales at Tate. Since 2021, Chris has been the designer at Common Threads Press, a small press dedicated to the radical histories of crafts and making, which he runs with the publisher and founder, Laura Moseley. They have published books on topics such as Palestinian embroidery, Hawaiian quilts and ecology, and the protest banners of the disabled rights movement — working collaboratively with academics and contemporary artists, and supported by a small team of volunteers. Their publications are sold in bookshops and exhibited in museums all over the world, and they regularly fundraise for charities and community groups including the Navajo Quilt Project, Black Art Library, and Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Editorial Assistants
Marisa Clements
Eleanor Chapman