Rute Chaves is a designer, artist, researcher and educator based between Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, and Matosinhos, Portugal. Rute holds a BA in Textile and Surface Design from the School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee (Germany) and a PhD in Design from the College of Design and Social Context at RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), where a research scholarship was awarded and teaching was undertaken as a sessional lecturer. Rute is currently a researcher at esad—idea Research Centre and a lecturer at ESAD – College of Art and Design.

Research and creative practice centre on experimental material investigations, exploring alternative methodologies and critical approaches to making in a multispecies world. Current work focuses on contemporary craft, kinship and open-source processes, and has been presented through conferences, exhibitions and workshops at institutions including the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, re:publica, Textílsetur Íslands (Iceland), the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Craft Victoria, and Arts Project Australia.