LCF Replay: Student, Rebekah Ong in Conversation with Founder of Wearable, Claudia Poh
- Written byS Popo-Williams
- Published date 30 June 2023
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Our student's feedback is important to us, so when BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Development 2021 graduate Rebekah Ong spoke to us about the importance of access to industry through events and a topic and an industry contact she was inspired by, we supported Rebekah to make this industry talk happen and turn it into a resource which all students could benefit from.
As part of Activities Week 2022, Rebekah interviewed Claudia Poh, designer, co-founder of Cair Collective and Founder of Werable; a transformative business that seeks innovative new ways to construct clothes, so that regardless of your mobility or dexterity, getting dressed can continue to be an exciting and empowering experience. Claudia, a Parsons School of Design and Central Saint Martins, UAL alumna was also awarded first place in the 2021 Vogue Singapore x TaFF Innovation Prize. We asked Rebekah how she met Claudia and brought about this experience for all LCF students to access.
As a fashion design student at LCF, I have always found it useful to attend talks and networking sessions to expand my knowledge. During this period of increased online talks and virtual seminars, I saw this as an opportunity to engage more students online, on key themes and questions that would prepare them for the industry after graduation.
I met the student events coordinator at another event and after speaking to them about student events in general, I realised that a virtual interview would be a suitable addition for the Activities Week series. We discussed key topics and industry experts or alumni we could tap into to start off this mini-series. The main focus was always how to best engage fashion students and help them grow. Personally, I did my entire final year remotely back in my home country – Singapore and found online learning for design quite a challenging shift. Based on that experience, I was hoping to find more resources and think of topics relevant that would be useful for emerging fashion designers or entrepreneurs.
The organisation of the first talk with Claudia came about very organically, as we are friends from my time back in Singapore. During the pandemic, I was fortunate to have very supportive tutors and studio space available in my home country, which was where I met and became friends with Claudia Poh – a fellow Singaporean and emerging fashion designer, founder of adaptive fashion brand Werable. I believe that fruitful conversations like the one we had can be very insightful and beneficial for all parties.
At LCF we have a strong alumni network and members of staff who are practicing within their own fields. Moving forward, I urge other students to put forth their suggestions about topics they wish to hear more about, and resources can be pulled together to make these discussions happen.
- Watch Rebekah and Claudia’s in conversation in full on LCF’s YouTube channel.
- Take a look at Rebekah Ong's portfolio