Naomi Luxford is a preventive conservation scientist whose research interests focus on material deterioration in collections, primarily arising from environmental causes. She has carried out research on a wide range of materials including silk, veneer and marquetry furniture, lacquer coatings for silver, mesh blinds, daguerreotype cover glasses, wallpaper and stone deterioration. Naomi came to the Courtauld after ten years as a conservation scientist at English Heritage. Her work at English Heritage focussed on environmental control and monitoring, including display cases, heating systems, light control and the storage of collections. With an emphasis on how object requirements and indoor environmental conditions relate to building performance, particularly in historic buildings.
Naomi studied her MSci in Chemistry (2003) at the University of Bristol. She has an MA in Conservation, specialising in conservation science in the care of historic collections (2006), from the RCA/V&A Conservation programme. Her PhD in Conservation Science (2009) from the University of Southampton focussed on the deterioration of silk in historic houses. She held a Clothworkers’ Conservation Science Fellowship at English Heritage (2015), AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Post-Doctoral Fellowship at UCL (2010-2013) and was a research scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2005).
Research interests
- Materials deterioration
- Preventive conservation, including environmental control and collection display methods
- Conservation science
- Accelerated ageing
- Historic buildings preservation
- Data analysis, interpretation and visualisation
Publications
- Luxford, N., Batool, T., Thickett, D. and Lankester, P. (2025) ‘Using environmental monitoring data to assess the effectiveness of cooling for object temperature control’ Scientific Culture, 11(1), 41-48.
- Thickett, D., Pretzel, B., Shah, B. and Luxford, N. (2024) ‘Natural light aging of furniture, textile and bone in historic environments’ Color Culture and Science Journal (Cultura e Scienza del Colore), 16(2), 108-117.
- Luxford, N. (2020) ‘Understanding the Risk of Visitor Developments and Operational Changes to Built Heritage Fabric’, Studies in Conservation, 65:S1, 199-202.
- Padfield, J. and Luxford, N. (2017) ‘Assessing how filtering or changing lights affects the relative colours seen in works of art: Utilising TM-30-15 calculations’ in Preprints ICOM-CC 18th Triennial Conference, Copenhagen, 4-8th September 2017
- Stanley, B., Luxford, N. and Downes, S. (2016) ‘Mould Attacks! A Practical and effective method of treating mould contaminated stonework’ in 13th International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone, 6-10 September 2016, Glasgow.
- Macmillan, A., Davies, M., Shrubsole, C., Luxford, N., May, N., Chiu, L.-F., Trutnevyte, E., Bobrova, Y. and Chalabi, Z. (2016) ‘Integrated decision-making about housing, energy and wellbeing: a qualitative system dynamics model’ Environmental Health, 15 (S1) 23-34.
- Curteis, T. and Luxford, N. (2014) ‘Royston Cave: an holistic approach to conservation’ Journal of Architectural Conservation, 20(3), 170-183.
- Thickett, D., Luxford, N. and Lankester, P. (2014) ‘Environmental Management Challenges and Strategies in Historic Houses’ in The Artifact, Its Context, and Their Narrative: Multidisciplinary Conservation in Historic House Museums, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Nov 6-9, 2012, Proceedings of the Joint Conference of ICOM-DEMHIST and three ICOM-CC working groups, K. Seymour and M. Sawicki (ed.) Italy: ICOM-CC.
- Luxford, N. and Thickett, D. (2013) ‘Monitoring complex objects in real display environments – how helpful is it?’ in Climate for Collections Standards and Uncertainties. 7-9 November 2012, Munich, J. Ashley-Smith, A. Burmester and M. Eibl (ed.) London: Archetype. 257-270.
- Luxford, N. and Thickett, D. (2013) ‘Change or Damage? Using dissemination to encourage public involvement in conservation research’ in The Public Face of Conservation. E. Williams (ed.) London: Archetype. 66-75.
- Luxford, N., Strlič, M. and Thickett, D. (2013) ‘Safe display parameters for veneer and marquetry objects: a review of the available information for wooden collections’ Studies in Conservation, 58(1), 1-12.
- Luxford, N. (2012) ‘Silk durability and degradation’ in Understanding and improving the durability of textiles P. Annis (ed.) Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing, 205-232.
- Luxford, N. and Thickett, D. (2011) ‘Designing accelerated ageing experiments to study silk deterioration in historic houses’ Journal of the Institute of Conservation, 34, 115-127.
- Luxford, N., Thickett, D. and Wyeth, P. (2011) ‘Non-destructive testing of silk: problems and possibilities’ in Preprints ICOM-CC 16th Triennial Conference, Lisbon, 19-23 September 2011, J. Bridgland (ed.) Almada, Portugal: Critério.
- Luxford, N., Thickett, D and Wyeth, P. (2010) ‘Applying Preventive Conservation Recommendations for Silk in Historic Houses’ in Proceedings of the joint interim conference Multidisciplinary Conservation: A Holistic View for Historic Interiors. 23-26 March 2010, Rome, E. Janssen, M. Parris, M. Sawicki, K. Seymour and A. Thorn (ed.) Italy: ICOM-CC.
- Luxford, N., Thickett, D. And Wyeth, P. (2009) ‘Preserving silk: Reassessing deterioration factors for historic silk artefacts’ in Natural Fibres in Australasia: Proceedings of the Combined (NZ and AUS) Conference of the Textile Institute. 15-17 April 2009, Dunedin, C. A. Wilson and R. M. Laing (ed.) Dunedin, New Zealand: The Textile Institute. 151-156.
- Luxford, N. and Thickett, D. (2007) ‘Preventing silver tarnish – Lifetime determination of cellulose nitrate lacquer’ Metal 07, 5, 88 – 93.
- Thickett, D. and Luxford, N. (2007) ‘Development of show cases for archaeological metals in aggressive environments’ Metal 07, 5, 105 – 109.
- Thickett, D., David, F. and Luxford, N., (2005/6) ‘Air Exchange Rate – the Dominant Parameter for Preventive Conservation?’, The Conservator, 29, 19-34.