Meet the Speakers for the upcoming UAL Sustainability Alumni Network Event…
- Written byMaria Ryan
- Published date 30 September 2022
Thursday 24 November 2022
6pm – 8.30pm
LVMH Lecture Theatre, Central Saint Martins, 1 Granary Square N1C 4AA
The UAL Sustainability Alumni Network are excited to host this event showcasing two collaborations consisting of UAL alumni who develop innovative materials and use design and creativity to combat the climate crisis. Come along for networking drinks, followed by a talk from Veerkracht Nature-Positive Denim Platform, a collective of artists who have created a nature-positive denim capsule collection using less harmful industrial processes, chemicals and environmentally friendly and certified natural mineral pigments. You will then hear from United Matters, a group of graduates from MA Material Futures at Central Saint Martins, who take a diverse approach to engage with design’s potential to provoke real-world change.
Veerkracht Nature-Positive Denim Platform
Veerkracht Nature-Positive Denim Platform started as a reaction to the climate crisis, uniting 12 fashion designers, visual artists, researchers, sustainability lecturers, and denim developers across Europe. The participants came together to work towards nature-positive and sustainable denim concepts and each creative talent has been encouraged to express their own design and artistic language. The platform was created by the curator Jani Kaila, a UAL LCC (London College of Communication) graduate, together with a Dutch fashion sustainability lecturer and denim specialist Maarten Wentholt.
The Veerkracht team has innovated with 4 Biospheric FashionLabs in Sahara, on a biological vineyard in Italy, in a home farm in Amsterdam, and on an island in Finland. Experimenting with natural soil and water bacteria, the team created a nature-positive and environmentally friendly denim capsule collection, using less harmful industrial processes, chemicals and environmentally friendly and certified natural mineral pigments.
The results from the FashionLabs inspired the participants to further develop their own nature positive concepts like Josien Verwoerd’s natural decay and rusting processes and other experiments with biodegradability and natural dyeing techniques.
The innovative sustainable industrial collaboration has taken place at chemical laboratories in Veneto, Italy.
Judith Lyons is a visual artist and a graduate of Central Saint Martins, London College of Communication and Camberwell College of Art, her work often combines traditional analogue and contemporary digital processes and has been published and exhibited both nationally and internationally. For Veerkracht, Judith Lyons used certified natural mineral pigments to create a screen-printed denim art series called Natural Forms.
The participants: Enzo Faber, Mickey Gibbons, Jani Kaila, Luna van Kessel, Katja Kiviranta, Judith Lyons, Vince Reece Hale, Florian Regtien, Josien Verwoerd, and Maarten Wentholt.
The Veerkracht team presented their first exhibition at Fashion in Helsinki event in Finland, in June 2022 and they are extending the creative dialogue with further collaborations in 2022/23.
Instagram: @veerkracht.dialogue
#naturepositive #sustainabledenim #creativedialogue #acrossborders
Contact: kailajani@gmail.com
United Matters
Matters is a London-based collective composed of Central Saint Martin's graduates from MA Material Futures. Working at the intersection of craft, science, and technology, our aim is to use design as a critical tool to combat, reflect upon and unravel the complexity of the 21st Century. Developing alternative narratives which expand upon the ramifications these issues may have on wider society. Our approach is diverse: ranging from material innovation and speculative design, to absurdist journey. But our goal is the same, to engage with design’s potential to provoke real-world change.