What Is Material Chronicles?
A textile travel-and-history docuseries for material culture lovers.
Material Chronicles reveals the people, places, techniques, and histories behind cloth.
From global fiber traditions to the quilts in your grandmother’s attic, we uncover the human forces that shape textiles — innovation, trade, identity, memory, and meaning.
Through on-location filming, maker conversations, museum access, and research-driven storytelling, we help you see textiles not just as objects, but as witnesses to the world.
If you love craft, history, or the magic of making, this is your place.
Meet Tara & Lilo
Your guides on this journey — researchers, storytellers, and trusted voices in the textile world.
Tara Miller is a quilt historian, designer, educator, and curator whose work investigates women’s history, material culture, and global textile exchange. She lectures internationally, develops research-driven learning experiences that connect contemporary makers with the legacies and narratives embedded in textiles, and is the curator of The American Quilt: Cloth & Commerce at the Bowers Museum. Tara is recognized for bridging scholarship and accessibility — translating complex histories into compelling stories for broad audiences.
Lilo Bowman is a producer, author, educator, and long-time leader in the quilt and textile community. Since 2007, she has served as Editor-in-Chief and Producer of TheQuiltShow.com, shaping interviews, exhibition content, and storytelling for a global audience. She is the author of Love Your Creative Space, and is widely sought after for her deep knowledge of craft culture, creative process, and behind-the-scenes understanding of how makers work. While she frequently teaches and speaks, her strength lies in producing and framing textile narratives for wide-reaching platforms.
Together, they bring scholarly rigor, lived experience, industry insight, and narrative expertise to Material Chronicles — inviting you to explore textiles not just as craft, but as culture, commerce, identity, and human story.
Watch on YouTube
This is where the journey unfolds — through stories, travel, research, and conversations with curators, scholars, museums, and the traces left by makers across time.
✔ Episodes filmed on location
✔ Interviews and behind-the-scenes access
✔ Textile history brought to life
✔ Insights you won’t find in textbooks
Contact Us
Have a lead for us?
Have a story worth following, a place we should visit, or feedback to share?
Drop us a note and let’s explore it together.
