Heritage-oriented design education often treats craft as a source of visual reference. This study examines how experiential learning through Gambiered Canton Gauze, a living textile heritage from the Lingnan region, shapes reflective learning in fashion education. Using a qualitative case study design, the project unfolded across three phases: classroom introduction, field study of artisanal practice, and exhibition-based reflection. The findings show that craft learning reorganised curricular time around material readiness and artisanal rhythms, redistributed pedagogical authority among artisans, educators, and students, and reframed evaluation through students’ public articulation of material and cultural reasoning. Students developed a process-based understanding of the textile through sustained material engagement, collaborative interpretation, and exhibition dialogue. The study demonstrates that integrating living textile traditions into studio teaching can make craft process, cultural meaning, and design decision-making mutually accountable within fashion education.
Zhang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.