MRS. MO VELD

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.

Talking about fashion…. it was an honour and great fun to moderate this evening about fashion and identity titled MODEVOLK, held at Ontwerp Platform Arnhem (O-P-A) on October 20^th, 2016, where my former student Duran Lantink presented his Sistaaz of the Castle project that he did with that other Rietveld alumnus Jan Hoek (their project won the Dutch Design Award in 2016), and where Museum Rotterdam curator Sjouk Hoitsma talked about her ROFFA 5314 project. The take away of the evening was that any form of cultural appropriation that does not involve the actual culture is totally last century.

It’s been thrilling as always to be part of the Modebelofte team, bringing the fiercest talents from the best international BA and MA fashion courses to Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. Although my part in this – textual curation, communication and hosting the Expert Meeting for fellow educators, press and designers – is peanuts compared to what it takes to put this show on the road. Shout out to the fabulous curator & event designer team Niek Pulles (Heyniek) and Harm Rensink, our superwoman project manager and PR queen Holly Syrett of GW Agency, the team responsible for all the trafficking, the graphic designers at Studioand.nl and campaign photographer Imke Ligthart…. and of course the queen bee of them all, initiator Ellen Albers of You Are Here. Check out the Modebelofte 2016 ‘Adaptive Travelers’ site for all the wonderful participating designers and more.