On Saturday October 29th I attended The Angelman Syndrome Awareness Designer Award, a fundraising event that was also a platform for six emerging designers to present their works for the first time.
I attended as a fashion writer, but it was also an occasion for me to talk about my project and get feedback from my main stakeholders: emerging designers.
It was incredibly inspiring to be surrounded by people at the beginning of their career, trying to make a difference in the industry. One of them, Daniel Thompson is trying to redefine the meaning of ‘useless’ with his designs, showing a strong interest in how to reutilise and make the most of discarded materials. More and more young designers are turning to sustainability, trying to make the most of the materials they can get their hands on. The question is, what are the tools I could provide to someone like him, to help him connect with young consumers?
For now, I can share his work and write about it on Controra’s social media page, and connect with him again in the future (organising an upcycling workshop led by him, for instance). I am also thinking about looking more into the idea of mindfulness within storytelling, which I addressed in my latest intervention (some of the prompts meant to guide the participants asked them to reflect on how clothes feel on their bodies, for instance.)
