Years literally fly by teaching at Rietveld, but I guess its never too late to publish our students achievements. So here I proudly present the fashion graduates who showed their final collections in the former ship yard NDSM Loods in Amsterdam North on 6 June 2018.
Artist and writer Twan Janssen contributed his signature intimate musings to the exhibition The Future is Female, curated by Francis Boeske and showing 13 female artists, and I had the pleasure to help him finetune and translate the copy which featured prominently in the exhibition as well as in the catalogue. A beautiful way to learn more about the chosen works that were on show in Parts Project in the Hague (27 May – 15 July 2018), by artists Lucia Tallova, Yael Davids, Rose Wylie, Annemarie van Splunter, Roos van Haaften, Karin Sander, Aase Seidler Gernes, Danielle Kwaaitaal, Sister Corita Kent, Katharina Grosse, Rosemarie Trockel , Sylvie Fleury and Lily van der Stokker.
Rietveld alumni rarely participated in this award installed by legendary Dutch couturier Frans Molenaar, simply because of mismatching schedules. But for the 2017 edition, they decided to change the procedure making it more realistic for my students to enter… and how. Not one Rietveld alumni won, but two! The jury was so excited they decided to add a second prize, one for Ninamounah Langestraat (who started her own label NINAMOUNAH, showing in Paris, London, New York and Amsterdam), the other for Boris Kollar (who proceded with a Master study Fashion Communication in Arnhem). 
Modebelofte, our international selection of freshly graduated fashion innovators, shown annually during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, is at a tipping point with this 2017 edition themed Digital Realists. Here is a link to our creative captain Harm Rensink’s site; he deserves the credit! Also see previous posts on Modebelofte and of course the next one on the 2018 edition for more about this beautiful talent platform that I am proud to be a part of.
Together with Stef Bakker from Studio Bakker and graphic designer Carsten Klein I developed a classy communication concept for classy boutique real estate developer REB Projects (partly owned my good old friend Farid Asserti with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work on quite a few occasions in the past. (House of Orange, Le Souk, Mammoush, Bo Cinq). In the meantime, we have developed already quite a few of our fancy ‘cahiers’ – sales brochures that pay tribute to the property and the city and places the new inhabitant in its narrative – and the new website is online. The first one was for The Artesia.
borrowed from REB Projects’ Instagram
I could not be prouder of our graduates, and this year’s show was something special as we took it to the streets, under the ring road overpass in Amsterdam West, just across the street from WOW. The livestream of The Fashion Show 2017 should be still available HERE. The amazing artwork and communication for our graduation show was done by Rietveld graduates from the graphic design department, namely: Eduardo Leon, Nina Schouten, Steinarr Ingolfsson and Christophe Synak.
And here are some jaw dropping looks by our graduates, all photography by TEAM PETER STIGTER:
Miro Hämäläinen
Ninamounah Langestraat
Ninamounah Langestraat
Nathalie Vlaun
Nathalie Vlaun
Boris Kollar
Boris Kollar
Yujin Jung
Yujin Jung
Karen Huang
Karen Huang
Line Langkjer
Line Langkjer
Chelsea Peterson
Chelsea Peterson
Another wonderful Grès et Delibasi talent I enjoyed working with on his necessary copy is Rikkert Leijs. This young gun’s artisanship and creative sense of direction made his debut in Milan triumphant and next thing he knew he was on Art Threads for Designjunction 2017.
Rarely is a copy writing job so much fun and such close collaboration as it was for KOCOWISCH designers Koen Coppens and Willem Schouten. Together with their agent Grès et Delibasi and my dear friend and art director Mrs. Karen Heuter we made this beautiful brochure for their debut collection of lamps and jewelry inspired by mathematical shapes called The Kocohedron Collection.
Sparring partner, ghost writer, speech coach… I don’t even know what to call myself working behind the scenes for Dutch Fashion Foundation’s Angelique Westerhof, whenever the occasion rises, like the annual Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium ceremony. The rightful winner for the 2017 stipend of a generous € 50.000,- was Gerrit Rietveld Academie alumnus Ronald van der Kemp, and our speech trumpeted his impressive artisanship, his generosity towards fashion students and emerging designers, and most of all his gutsy new approach using whatever he can get his hands on, from leftover couture fabrics to vintage pieces and whatever scrap of material his magpy-eyes desire.
Freedom! Inconvenience! Madness! And a hard-boiled egg… the press release for Collectie Arnhem 2017 – that resulted from my communications workshop with these 3rd year fashion students at ArtEZ – literally oozed with fashion’s newfound optimism and extrovert creativity. Yellow, the colour of the sun and the sole colour in the entire collection, made everything beam with hope. Well done Iris Bambacht, Anna Bernal-van Geenhuizen, Douwe de Boer, Guusje de Bruin, Jolijn Corporaal, Emmy Hermans, Amarens Joustra, Sarah Kerbosch, Merrit Koek, Gina Malagodi, Naomi Marcela, Mehdi Mashayekhi, Alicia Minnaard, Nina Pen, Dennis Schreuder, Maria van Steenoven and Amber Willemztijn, the presentation at …,staat’s NewWertheater was delightful!
