Karel van Laere

What is your name? Karel van Laere

Where did you study and when did you graduate? I am currently in my 3rd year of Theatrical Performance at the theatre school in Maastricht and will graduate next year.

What inspires you as a theater maker/performer? The New Media is always a huge inspiration. Its endless possibilities.

Who is your favorite artist? Why? Hussein Chalayan is one of my favorite fashion artists. In my opinion he thinks more like a performer than like a fashion designer. Plus his shows can definitely be considered performances. I also love the way he uses the new media in his designs.

Another artist who inspires me is the sound artist: Alva Noto. His sounds and videos are mostly based on things that could go wrong in a computer.

What will you bring to FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I will bring a performance surrounding my own fashion line. Seven beautiful people from my school will show my designs on the FASHIONCLASH catwalk.

The focus for me will be on the way I show my pieces. In 2010 I made a fashion show 'peak Oil' which was still a bit too much fashion and not enough performance. This year will be both! Last year when I visited FASHIONCLASH Maastricht I thought all the shows were too smooth. I would like to make my show more raw than the others.

Why fashion? Why theater and fashion together? A fashion show has a different audience than a normal theater audience, that inspires me. I started to get interested in fashion because of my uncle, 'Carel van Laere'. Because of him I started designing my own clothes. I got accepted at the Maastricht Theater Academy and began making costumes for performances and theater.

In 2009 I made costumes for the opera 'Kepler' by Philip Glass and in 2011 for the opera 'Rage D'amour' by Rob Zuidam. Both of these operas were directed by Peter Missotten.

In Maastricht I started to combine my performances and my designing skills.

What do you expect from FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? Lots of beautiful models in fresh designs.

What are your goals concerning your career? Where do you see yourself in the future? After the theatre school I want to continue studying and focuse on the new media.

Edited by Natalia Serwanska

Femke Agema

 

Collection SS 2011 by Femke Agema



What is your name? Femke Agema

What is the name of your label? Femke Agema

Where did you study and when did you graduate? I studied at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (Netherlands) and did a Master in Fashion Design at the MaHKU. When I tell you what year I graduated it will make me feel old, so I won't.. ;)

What inspires you as a designer? I think inspiration is a very difficult concept. I can never pinpoint what makes me want to create things. I guess it's just everything around me.

Who is your favorite designer? My favorite designer at the moment is Henrik Vibskov. I like the way he creates a whole new world around his designs during his fashion shows. He dares to think out of the box. I also love to watch what my colleague-young-designers do. I think a lot of graduation collections are so fresh and full of new ideas. They don't have to think about wearability that much yet, and that is what appeals to me. 





Femke in her atelier



You are taking part both in the show and exhibition of FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011. Are your runway designs and the exhibition ones related to each other? What will you bring to FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? During FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011 I will show the spring/summer 2012 collection of my label. The inspiration of this collection is the fear of a group of people who believes the world will come to an end in 2012. But off course I will approach this disastrous theme with a FemkeAgema-twist. Like with the Totem-collection I showed last year, I will present an installation-ish object which I'll show at the FASHIONCLASH-exhibition. I will keep it as a surprise what is exactly, but it is indeed related to the collection that is shown.

You also took part in the previous editions of FASHIONCLASH Maastricht, how do you recall them? I recall the previous editions of Fashionclash with a lot of joy. I had a really good time. It is such a nice feeling to see that all the hard work of making a collection comes together on the runway and to show what you're doing to an interested audience.

What do you expect from the FASHIONCLASH 2011? I expect Fashionclash 2011 to be just as fun and inspiring as the previous edition. I'm very curious about the new location!

What are your goals concerning your career? What are your ambitions? What I would love to achieve in the future is to have more time to make crazy stuff like the totempoles I made last year. But the thing is that it is very hard to make a living out of it. So what my goal is for the coming years is to make collections where I can go crazy with some items or installations, but that the collections also contain cloths that are more wearable and sellable and look appealing for buyers, so I can produce the cloths and save time for art-projects.



SS 2011 by Femke Agema



SS 2011 by Femke Agema



 

Edited by Natalia Serwanska



Ulrik Martin Larsen for the second time at FASHIONCLASH Maastricht

CHOREOGRAPHED- sketch

What is your name? Ulrik Martin Larsen

What is the name of your label? Ulrik Martin Larsen

Where did you study and when did you graduate? At the Danish Design School, graduated in 2008 and currently I’m a PhD student in Fashion at the Swedish School of Textiles

What inspires you as a designer? I would rather answer what drives me as a designer, I´m driven by and interested in ideas, and how to accomplish, realize, visualize and communicate those.

Who is your favorite designer? Why? There are a number of people I admirer for different reasons…no one mentioned, no one forgotten…

What can you bring to FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011 Could you also tell us how do you recall the last edition of the event, since to took part in it as well? Any surprises? What did you learn maybe? This year I will bring a series of films that deal with the ritual of getting dressed or undressed and how to elevate and challenge this familiar action through performance and choreography/movement. I am collaborating with dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet and the talented filmmaker Dimitris Vulalas. The working title of the project is: THE CHOREOGRAPHED GARMENT.

I was fortunate enough to participate in FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2010, and I was really impressed with the professionalism and quality level of the event. The location was spectacular and I met a lot of interesting people who work in the same field.

CHOERORAPHED -sketch

What do you expect from the FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I expect to see a great selection of designers and artists and to discover the work of established people but also new unseen talents. The combination of exhibitions and fashion shows is great.

How did your experience with fashion started? When did you decide to be a (fashion) designer? I decided to be a designer many years ago, I have always enjoyed creating and making things and somehow fashion seemed to connect to a lot of different areas that hold my interest.

I believe that interesting fashion only exists if there is a certain degree of artistry involved and ”good” art in my opinion includes a level of craftsmanship. I don´t need to put a label on my profession but I aspire to include aspects of craftsmanship and artistry in my work.

What are your goals concerning your career? What are your ambitions? Where do you see yourself in the future? I hope be able to show my work in different contexts, continue my collaborations and develop my research into new methods, processes and expressions that hopefully will be a valid contribution to fashion/art…and last but not least to have fun while doing it!

Ulrik's studio.

Edited by Natalia Serwanska

Dennis Vanderbroek

Dennis climbing a hill.

What is your name? My name is Dennis Vanderbroeck. I'm 21 years old and living in Maastricht but I'm originally from Zoetermeer, that's a small village kind of thing near The Hague.

Where did you study and when did you graduate? I'm still studying at the Theatre Academy in Maastricht and I'm in my second year. My study has a multidisciplinary approach. We're making short movies, live performances and visual art.

What inspires you as a theatre maker/performer? Everything. When I look around I can be inspired by anything. The smallest things in life can generate a world. Like my neighbour who lives across the road, I see him every morning, the guy I see every Wednesday at 8.30 sharp, the photo's where my father looks exactly like me, the music I liked when I was young, someone who's sleeping in the train, a dream, cardboard houses and pop-up books.

I think everybody lives in his own created reality. What we have in common is relative. It's about those millions of bubbles where everybody lives in. I really like to try to create a world, another world, a new world. Every single piece I make represents another part of my own created reality.

Dennis' work

Who is your favourite artist? Why? There are so many artists who inspire me. I collect photo books, pictures out of newspapers, like to watch documentaries, listen to music. I like artists who are brand of themselves, like Andy Warhol did. But also Viktor & Rolf and Gilbert & George.

Besides, photographer like Hedi Slimane, Jurgen Teller, Ryan Mcginley, Annie Liebovitz and The Selby make me jealous.

What can you bring to FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I really like those pop-up books. When I was young I collected them, and every time when someone gave me a pop-up book, I went to my bedroom and opened it. Those books are hiding something inside, they have a secret.

My installation called NESTtogo (nest to go) is about a man who is travelling around the world with his cardboard pop-up house. A man who's an outsider of society. He's looking for a place to stay and searching for his real identity.

I made a house out of cardboard and wood. And with that pop-up house I travelled around and made a series of photos.

What do you expect from FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I love the FASHIONCLASH. Last year II also took part in it and I loved it. It’s amazing how Nawie and Branko created a place for fashion. And with fashion I don't mean only the clothes. I think it's a unique event where there's a place for different kinds of art. It's a great event for young artist and it's an honour to show my NEST at the FASHIONCLASH.

Why fashion? Why theatre and fashion together? When I was young, my best girlfriend and I had our own brand, called DAY. We didn't know at that time that there actually was a brand with the same name. We made sketches and tried to make our own clothes.

I really like it when a collection creates a world. Like Henrik Vibskov for example, his shows are great, he tries to create a story, together with his clothes, music and visuals. Last year during FASHIONCLASH I saw a collection of a young designer called Ingo Binder, his futuristic clothes told a story that triggered me. I asked him to participate on NESTtogo.

I think the meaning of art is to infect each other, to translate the things that are itching in your head, to translate you imagination and it doesn't matter if you need fabric for it, or a photo camera, or a guitar.

What are your goals concerning your career? Where do you see yourself in the future? I don't want to think about that yet. It scares me. It's a cliché, but I hope I can do what I want. Of course, I've got ambitions but first I would like to finish school, become an artist, for now I'm just a student who tries to make something that communicates with people.


Edited by Natalia Serwanska

Bojana Jovanovic

Bojana's collection

What is your name and the name of your label? My name’s Bojana Jovanovic and my name is also the name of the label.

Where did you study? In June 2010 I graduated in fashion design at Mod'Art International in Belgrade.

What is the concept of your collection? What can we expect from you at FCM 2011? The collection is inspired by ornaments and elements of baroque interior. The emphasis is placed on details and their combination. Colors in collection are made of bright tones of orange and purple with combination of pastel colors of pink and white. You will be able to see "play" with different shapes, forms and textures which create avant-garde, but in same time is ready-to-wear models.

What inspires you? I am always inspired to combine two or more incompatible fragments; whether it’s about culture, time or clothing fragments. It is never just one thing. My inspiration comes from all sides, it is everywhere, we just need to see it and use it in the right way.



Close-up on the detail.



Your favorite designer/artist? I can’t say that, I don’t have one favorite designer because everyone is specific in thier own unique way, but designers that I love since I was a kid are John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. Today I admire the work of Iris Van Herpen and Sandra Backlund.

Artists I love are Gustav Klimt and Antoni Gaudi, and now I am also interested in Maki Kahori, Hu Ke and Alexa Meade.

What are your ambitions? Where do you see yourself in the future? I would like to successfully deal with this job, travel, make lots of contacts and cooperate with talented artists from different artistic disciplines.



Bojana's inspirations

Edited by Natalia Serwanska

Jane Bowler

Jane's moodboard

What is your name? Jane Bowler


What is the name of your label? Jane Bowler Design studio

Where did you study and when did you graduate? Mixed Media Textiles MA at the Royal College of Art, London. I graduated in June 2010

What inspires you as a textile designer? I am inspired by everyday materials and objects ranging from PVC shower curtains to bath mats. I love experimenting with unexpected materials and processes. The garment that I am entering into FASHIONCLASH, is an extension of my final collection at the RCA. The collection was a witty and sophisticated approach to rainwear , inspired by traditional Japanese straw raincoats alongside a mix of samurai armor and the traditional British mackintosh.



Close-up on the detail



Who is your favorite designer/artist? Why? I love Issey Miyake’s early work, he pushed the boundaries of fashion and textiles, engineering the textiles to create his garments. His new work titled ‘Collection 1325’ which was on show at the barbican just recently was really inspiring alongside works by Junya Watanabe. I think I am attracted to Japanese fashion designers!

What can you bring to FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? A hint of plastic fantastic and a new appreciation for textiles!



Another close-up



How did your experience with design started? When did you decided to be a designer? Why textiles? I had always loved to collect bits and bobs from carboot sales and second hand shops.. I loved searching for unexpected gems and the prospect of transforming unusual materials and objects into something new! When I was little, I always said that when I grew up, I wanted to be an artist and own a sweet shop… I wanted to work as an artist and sell sweets at the same time! Strangely, some people have commented that my recent collection resembles sweets! Matylda from ‘Mat and Me’ Blog called my raincoats… Spaghetti wine gum dresses! Which I love!

I didn’t always want to be a textile or fashion designer… it just kind of happened through my love of materials!

What are your goals concerning your career? What are your ambitions? I am currently working on my new collection which I will be launching this September. Along side my exciting show piece style garments, I am also working on a wearable range which I am looking to launch in stores in the near future. I love what I do, and just hope that other people will love it too!

Edited by Natalia Serwanska

Gareth Roberts

 What is your name? Gareth Roberts

 What is the name of your label? Gareth Roberts

Where did you study and when did you graduate?

 Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

(Fashion Design Womenswear) Graduating in 2008

What inspires you as a designer?

Life- The moment I open my eyes each morning!

Who is your favorite designer? Why?

My dearest friend Derek Lawlor. 

Simple- I believe we have the same mission in life…

What can you bring to FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? Passion, enthusiasm and always a smile! 

What do you expect from the FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011?

 I love the idea of working with creative people from a wealth of different cultures- I expect fast furious fashion that is fun!

Gareth Roberts Studio

How did your experience with fashion start?

When I spent time as a child at my Grandparents I use to pull all my Grand Mother’s old bed sheets out in her cupboard then with a needle and thread sewed my sister into my creations while making her strut down their kitchen! I was only about 6 or 7 at the time! My great Grandfather was a Savile Row tailor.

When did you decide to be a fashion designer?

 I think sub-consciously when I was creating ‘kiddie Couture’!

While at school I developed a passion for textiles and fabric manipulation that just confirmed my belief in a creative path for myself.

What are your goals concerning your career?

I feel as a designer you should be able to design anything whether it is the layout of a page or a collection I have one goal ‘it needs to be creative and inspiring’.

What are your ambitions?All I have ever wanted was to empower women and make them feel strong, confident and sexy. Everything else is secondary.

Where do you see yourself in the future? On this planet!


For more: http://www.garethjamesroberts.com/

Kosenec

Who is behind Kosenec? Kosenec are Marijana Ranisavljev and Vojislav Micic, two young Belgrade based designers.

What is the concept of your collection? Collection is based on fragments from our ethnological heritage. Not much on Christianity, more on paganism, especially during Slavic era. It’s about who we were before all this.

What is the source of your inspiration? Almost everything older then us. History of Slavic people, myths and stories from their (our) culture. Connection between historic and futuristic.

What are your ambitions? Where do you see yourself in the future? We are staying in fashion for sure, but we really don’t know on what level. It’s sure it will be related with work we are doing right now, but we can’t be precise. Not yet.

Credits:

photographer: Vojislav Micic

model: Marijana Ranisavljev

logo: Dusan Tomasevic

graphic design: Vojislav Micic

"Body Juices" by Sancho



What is Your Name? Sancho Spears Hemelsoen

What is the name of your label? Sancho Hemelsoen

Where did you study and when did you graduate? I took evening classes 'pattern design' and 'sewing techniques'. I did internships at Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

What inspires you as a designer? Everything imaginable can inspire me.

Who is you favorite designer and why? Jeremy Scott and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. They spread a message of joy and celebrate the non-serious side of life.

What will you present during FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? My collection 'Body Juices'.

What do you expect from FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? Nice opportunity to network and see interesting things.

How did your fascination for fashion and design started? I'm not fascinated by fashion or design. I'm just fascinated by designing things myself.

What are your ambitions? Keep on injecting the world with my ideas.

  

Edited by Natalia Serwanska

HEYNIEK by Niek Pulles

Niek at work

Picture from Matandme blog.

What is your name? Niek Pulles

What is the name of your label? HEYNIEK

Where did you study and when did you graduate? I graduated in December 2009 at Man & Identity of the Design Academy Eindhoven

What inspires you as a designer/artist? I think almost everything in life :P If ''it" or "something'' gives you the energy or the feeling to create a piece, that inspires me.

Who is your favorite (fashion) designer/artist? Why? Alexander McQueen and especially what he did around his shows. Creating new worlds, he really was a precursor. It's a shame that he died...

What can you bring to FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I will join the CLASH project and the plan is to show an energetic and experimental piece based on the material of one of my graduation project, which is black foam.



What do you expect from the FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I think it will be an even hotter show the last year :)



Niek's atelier
Picture from Matandme blog.



How did your experience with fashion started? When did you decide to be a (fashion) designer/artist? I was really triggered by the fastness of fashion during the Academy. In my third year I decided to jump into this fashion adventure at Man & Identity, which I still don't regret!

What are your goals concerning your career? What are your ambitions? Where do you see yourself in the future? My plan is to focus on fashion film. Using film to make trend forecasts and visualize (fashion) material experiments. And hope to work with nice people:), but that is already happening...

Edited by Natalia Serwanska

Mieke Dierckx

Mieke's atelier. FASHIONCLASH likes!



What is your name? Mieke Dierckx

What is the name of your label? Mieke Dierckx

Where did you study and when did you graduate? From 2002-2005 I studied Interior and Furniture design at the Lessius University College in Mechelen. Thanks to the Erasmus project in Leeds, I got introduced to the course Jewellery Design and decided to follow the Jewellery Design and Gold-and Silversmithing programme at the PHL University College in Hasselt. (2005-2009)

What inspires you as a designer? I am inspired by spaces. Several contexts of a space can be interesting, for example the history, the social aspect, the architecture, the atmosphere of the space…

My jewellery enters the dialogue with its environment by using this space as inspiration for my designs. In this way jewellery goes beyond the obvious, lends new meanings to spaces and draws attention to small unseen details. I applied this way of designing in several projects like my graduation project “High Tide”, inspired by the swimming pool of Hasselt and the collection “Private Courtyards”, jewellery designed for a project of Design Platform Limburg and z33 (situated in a formal beguinage). Also for the FASHIONCLASH project I will design a jewel that is inspired by a location.

Mieke's work in progress

Who is you favourite designer and why? I don’t specifically have one favourite designer. But there is a lot of designs I like. I like objects which include a nice concept. Which makes you think about the design or makes you laugh with it (for example the work of Lachaert - d’Hanis, Ted Noten,… ). But maybe I like even more objects which have a good design. A design can be strong without people having to know the underlying concept, for example the jewellery of Katja Prins.

What will you present during FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I will show my “private courtyards” (“Besloten Hofjes”) collection. For this collection I was inspired by the exhibition space of z33 (house of contemporary art in Hasselt), the formal beguinage of Hasselt. During the design process most of the research concerned the history of the space. As a result, handicraft and bobbin lace-making became the starting points for this work. Traditional materials and techniques have been used and combined with other materials or techniques which are unconventional within the context of handicraft.

Also I will show some new work inspired by the exhibition space of FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011, the old decoration factory, Mosa (tile production).

What do you expect from FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I hope to reach a broader audience. As a young designer it is not usual to show your work in the Netherlands or other foreign countries. I hope to meet interesting people and to see inspiring work. I’m also curious to see how it is to present my jewellery in a fashion related exhibition and what the reaction will be (previously I only exhibited in a jewellery or design context).

Mieke's work in progress

How did your fascination with jewellery and design started? When I was young, I was already very creative. Most of the time I was designing hats.

Previous to the course of jewellery design, I studied interior design. In these curiculla design is an important issue, but in jewellery design I learned to make things myself, not only the designing. The craft itself appealed to me.

I don’t really often wear jewellery myself, but in order to make it you have to work with different materials and techniques, and that’s just my thing. The fact that I can experiment with materials and techniques on my own and combine them, ensures that the design changes or adapts according to the used materials and techniques. They complete the design and bring new ideas for next designs.

Jewellery for me are small objects where many details can be applied or added to.

What are your ambitions for the future? My ambition is to have an own studio, wherein there is enough variation between free and assigned work , between jewellery, objects, paintings,… and try to make a living of it.

Inspirational spaces for Mieke:

Edited by Natalia Serwanska