Mariia Pavlyk's collections draw inspiration from Ukrainian pre-ancestral civilization, reflecting a harmonious way of life that values sustainability and tradition. Her work embodies responsibility and a deep respect for material origins, allowing her to reconcile her experiences shaped by the war in Ukraine and highlighting fashion's role as a form of resilience.

Jessie Curry’s research project examines the evolutionary connections between plants and humans. Using Saccharina Japonica kelp and abaca fiber, the costume PLANTSPEAK and short film envision vegetal languages to inspire interspecies dialogue. Curry investigates seaweed, the 'ancestor of all plants,' highlighting its interactions in daily life while preserving its ancient knowledge and diverse qualities.

Filippa Geslin’s work draws inspiration from Danish Christian art and her aunt’s pastoral work, considering craft as prayer. Using humble materials like cotton calico scraps, Geslin transforms them into precious, abstract forms celebrating femininity. She collaborates with artisans, honoring craftsmanship, community, and the spiritual essence of creation.

In her knitwear collection, Saimi Parikka studies themes of ultra-slow fashion, emotional connection to garments, comfort, and connection to nature. She approaches these themes with a strong ‘DIY’ approach - from hand-processed and spun Finnish wool yarns from her uncle’s sheep, to natural dyes and slow handicraft textile techniques, such as crochet.

Valeria Pulici believes timelessness is a trap, and wants to explore the complexities of femininity through conflict, vulnerability and the grotesque. Focusing on ‘filthy femininity’, Pulici creates charcoal-based bioplastics that are designed to degrade over time.

Azul Espirito Santo’s work draws inspiration from her half-peruvian, half-portuguese heritage, and Indigenous Peruvian philosophies, to create textiles that explore nature’s impermanence and renewal. Looking closely at her lived environment and natural encounters whilst studying in the Hague - a place in which she initially considered her experiences to be less ‘authentic’ and beautiful than in Portugal, or Peru - she finds place in the urban landscape.  Using natural materials like silk, wool, and hemp, her designs blend sublimation and needle felting to reflect the delicate balance between nature’s cycles and sustainable, evolving craftsmanship.

Liwen Liang grew up in Jingdezhen, the world-famous capital of porcelain ceramics.  They come from a long line of ceramic practitioners, and wanted to bring this process to fashion. Combing their rich cultural heritage and personal knowledge through innovating an ultra-fine ceramic-textile, Liwen pays homage to intergenerational relationships rooted in place, sharing knowledge and the future of ceramics. 

Belinda Gredig explores an often overlooked fibre, Nettle. Considered both a traditionally healing plant and a pest, Gredig uses over-twisted hand spun German nettle yarn to hand-weave forms that resist uniformity.  She re-connects to the ancestry of textile and fashion through drawing parallels between glass and textile practices, where the movements and gestures of making shine brightly in the outcomes. 

Julia Dotson draws from their forgotten family histories and queer identity, rooted in the American South. Inspired by their ‘butch lesbian great-cousin Clara’, they deconstructed 1950s American menswear, reworking traditional textiles and gender roles into contemporary garments. They celebrate queer resilience and break down gender stereotypes in labor roles through dress, materiality, and tongue-in cheek wordplay, set against an agricultural working backdrop.

Neža Simčič pays respect to her Slovenian heritage through a crafted attention to detail. Drawing on rural knowledges of woodenware, sieve and basketmaking, Neža creates modern aesthetics by combining delicate knit textiles with local natural materials like wood, reindeer leather, and linen yarn. Her collection MARA explores cultural preservation, sustainability, and community engagement; bridging past knowledges and present experiences.

Bei Bei Tang regenerates a connection between past and present, nature and fashion. Intertwining cultural heritage and cutting-edge biodesign, the Chinese fashion designer emerges as a visionary in the realm of sustainable fashion. Her innovative collection, Rammix, not only revitalizes the underappreciated ramie plant but also reimagines its potential through a unique Bio-Jacket system. 

This call is open to 2024 BA & MA graduates and early career designers who are in their first three years of practicing. We welcome those who do not hold a degree in fashion and textiles to apply, on the condition you can demonstrate a proven track record of creating work/working in the fashion field and present a portfolio of recent work.

The submission deadline is 2nd August 2024, 23.59 PM Central European Summer Time (CEST)

Congrats to Paolo Carzana and Duran Lantink for making it to the final of the LVMH Award! The eight finalists will present their collections to the Prize Jury at the final to be held on Tuesday 10th September at the Louis Vuitton Foundation.

During the 2024 Salone del Mobile Milano, Nieuwe Instituut presented the New Store 2.0. The project imagines a store where shopping helps the environment instead of harming it. NOOF talent Woo Jin Joo traveled to Milan to co-create with the visitors of the Store.

The ITS Contest is one of the world’s leading platforms for emerging creative talent in fashion, accessories and jewellery design. Two NOOF talents won, a third was nominated: Congrats to Ivan Delogu, Silvia Acien Parrilla and Ju Bao!

After NOOF talent Stina Randestad was nominated last year, two more NOOF talents are nominated for the prestigious LVMH Award as a semi-finalist: Paolo Carzana and Duran Lantink!

Congratulations to NOOF talent Ruusa Vuori! She is the winner of this year's ALPHA Award and was also awarded the Exhibition Prize!

Consciously far from trending streams, Milk of Lime seeks to give renaissance to hidden treasures and long forgotten references of its closest surroundings, which are in rural Germany and Belgium.

Fusing traditional crafts within the field of fashion, sculpting methods and digital practices, Jeppe Juel explores how we can expand and hybridise analogue and digital methods within fashion design.

British textile-multi-talent Katerina Knight finished her MA Textile Design at the Royal College of Art last summer, specialising in one-of-a-kind textile artefacts that reimagine ancient hand-making techniques.