Universally the hierarchy of the senses predicates visual dominance. Hearing is largely perceived as second in line, in the West, followed by, the “subordinate senses of touch, taste and smell” (Roque S L et al 2015). This paper will argue the efficacy found in the transitional object for persons living with dementia who have made the move from their familiar home to the unfamiliar environment of a care home is largely due to the surface of the object – the tactile quality, perhaps even more than the physicality and presence of the object itself. Using garments as transitional objects and focusing on the key component, cloth, this paper aims to explore new possibilities in how people living with dementia experience the world they live in.

• https://www.rsph.org.uk/event/first-inte...