Are you a young designer with no more that 4 years of professional experience and would you like to help work on a socially responsible, gender-neutral label in a company without a hierarchical structure? Then this project in the workshops of fashion creators Sjaak Hullekes and Sebastiaan Kramer is the perfect fit for you.
Hul le Kes develops alternatives for the current fashion system and loves introducing other people to the beauty of imperfections. The Recovery Studio, a social recovery workshop which offers a peaceful environment for manual work, helps both people with mental issues and rejected materials find their way back into society. At Studio Ryn, a production workshop for sustainable clothing, ten mbo (upper secondary vocational) students work to create a bright future, guided by experienced fashion creators. Both workshops engage in upcycling, using old techniques with a modern twist (such as darning and dyeing using plants). Each piece of clothing they produce is unique.
Already, 95% of the materials Hul le Kes uses are existing materials. But there are even more waste flows, techniques and insights out there that could be used to give even more old (and rejected) fabrics a new, sustainable place in an alternative system. In Waardevermeerdering van afvalstromen [Valorisation of Waste Flows], you – a beginning designer with a clear interest in material research and a fresh perspective on the modern fashion system – will research how the already available knowledge can be expanded further.
The label currently works with flows that arose from internal needs, and would like to work with an external designer (not necessarily from the field of fashion, all disciplines are welcome) to investigate potential options that are scalable or feasible from a cost perspective. Also, the value increase need not (necessarily) be expressed in terms of money: improvements that fit with the company’s social values are also welcome. As to the added value of this project for you: you get to collaborate with experts who can teach you a great deal about how to create a suitable business model for your own design practice.
Intended collaboration start: 1 March 2023
Apply before December 7th via Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie.
