Dr Zoë Hendon

 

Departmental Lecturer in History of Art

Biography

Dr Zoë Hendon is a Departmental Lecturer in History of Art at Oxford Lifelong Learning. She holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her expertise in the history of design developed through curatorial roles in museums, including the William Morris Gallery, the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture at Middlesex University, and the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham.

Research interests

Dr Hendon specialises in the history of the design of everyday domestic spaces and in consumer choices relating to domestic furnishings, including wallpaper. Her work focuses on the material culture of daily life and the objects and interiors that shape lived experience. She has a long-standing research interest in the interwar design adviser Grace Lovat Fraser, whose life and work illuminate the history of domestic design, consumer culture and the role of women in design.

A developing strand of her research explores the pedagogical potential of historic walking tours, particularly for students who are not studying history. This work connects with her wider interests in housing and health, and in how local histories can shed light on broader national themes.

Teaching interests

Dr Hendon’s teaching experience has been shaped by her curatorial work within UK higher education institutions. She has led seminars and lectures for undergraduate and postgraduate students and has delivered public talks at institutions including the V&A, the Design Museum and other venues. Much of her teaching is based on object-based learning, reflecting her research interest in how students engage with and learn from material objects.

Publications

Selected Recent Publications

(See also ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7083-7365)

Baeza Ruiz, Ana and Zoë Hendon, “Learning ways of seeing with MoDA’s photography collections.” in Kador, T. (ed), Object-Based Learning in Museums, Collections and Beyond, Routledge (forthcoming, 2026)

Hendon, Zoë and Jill Stewart, “Creative Histories in the Classroom: Walking through Housing History” History Journal Special Issue, ed. L Matthews-Jones and C. Feely (forthcoming, 2026)

Hendon, Zoë, “Mabb on Morris: wallpaper in contemporary art”, Wallpaper History Review (forthcoming, 2026)

Hendon, Zoë, “Exhibition as Interior: Interior as Exhibition” [Book Review] Journal of Design History (forthcoming, 2026)

Hendon, Zoë, 2024. “A Studio Logbook of Traditional Designs: John Line & Sons, 1958.” Wallpaper History Review, pp.66-67

Hendon, Zoë. 2023. “Handwork rendered expeditious”: the Rottmann-Silver stencil venture of the 1890s. Christopher Dresser Society Journal. (2), pp.27-42

Hendon, Zoë. 2022. “Design and Agency” [Book Review]. Journal of Design History. 35 (1), pp. 96-97. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epab026

Baeza Ruiz, Ana and Zoë Hendon. (2022). “Displaying Co-Creation: An Enquiry into Participatory Engagement at the University Museum.” In: Rausch, C., Benschop, R., Sitzia, E., van Saaze, V. (eds) Participatory Practices in Art and Cultural Heritage. Studies in Art, Heritage, Law and the Market, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05694-9_3

Hendon, Zoë. 2021. "Reclaiming Heritage Narratives: Reweaving the Story of a Royal Wedding Dress." in R. Houze and G. Lees Maffei (eds), Design and Heritage: The Construction of Identity and Belonging, Routledge. https://doi:10.4324/9781003096146-16

Hendon, Zoë. 2020. “Archives, Collections and Curatorship: Virtual Special Issue for the Journal of Design History.” Journal of Design History, 33 (1) e41–e54 https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epz010

Hendon, Zoë and Anne Massey, eds. 2019. Design, History and Time: New temporalities in a digital age. Bloomsbury Visual Arts, Bloomsbury, London.

Hendon, Zoë and Linda Sandino. 2018. "Inspiration Examined: Towards a Methodology." Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education 17 (2) pp.135-150. https://doi.org/10.1386/adch.17.2.135_1

Hendon, Zoë. 2018. “Behind the scenes at the Silver Studio: Rex Silver and the hidden mechanisms of interwar textile design.” Architecture and Culture, 6 (1) pp.61–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/20507828.2017.1397963

Hendon, Zoë. 2018. Wallpaper. Oxford: Shire Publications.