Nottingham Trent University students collaborate with ethical fashion designer Orsola de Castro to incorporate recycled fabrics into their work

(09/04/2010)

Students from Nottingham Trent University have been challenged to create a variety of sustainable products as part of a collaborative project with ethical fashion designer, Orsola de Castro. Undergraduate and postgraduate students from courses across the School of Art and Design are involved in the project, which has required them to produce creative items from discarded materials and fabrics.

The students have come up with some inspired ideas, including using the often discarded end-of-roll fabric to create hand printed silk dresses; screen printing on old, unwanted furniture to give it a contemporary feel; and using dumped manufacturing threads to create hats and head pieces.

Orsola – who is behind the green fashion label, From Somewhere, and co-curates Estethica, the sustainable element of London Fashion Week – has visited the university to see the students’ work take shape. She had previously given a lecture and run workshops for the students, providing advice on how to create new products from reclaimed and unwanted materials.

Much of the work will be on show as part of Nottingham Trent University’s art and design degree shows in June, and Orsola will also select some pieces to be displayed in her store on London’s Portobello Road. Although the fashion industry is often seen as overproducing, all womenswear collections at Orsola’s store are made with luxury designer pre-consumer waste such as proofs, swatches, production off-cuts and end-of-rolls.

The student project is a fitting one for Nottingham Trent University, for which environmental sustainability is a key part of its strategy. The university has made a commitment to reducing its own carbon footprint and minimising waste and is ranked number one in the University Green League, which rates institutions on their environmental management practices.

Kathy Dickinson, a senior lecturer in decorative arts in the university’s School of Art and Design, said: “We are fortunate to have developed an excellent relationship with Orsola after inviting her to give a lecture on the environmental impact of the fashion industry. She is a key campaigner for ethical and recycled fashion and the knowledge and experience she has been able to pass on to our students has been invaluable. Understanding the need to be responsible, sustainable designers is a vital part of their education and future careers.”

Orsola said: “It has been a privilege to share my experience with the Nottingham Trent University students. It is by teaching that I realise how much I have learned, and how much there is still to be learned, about upcycling and recycling. The students I worked with came to the project with an open mind and have shown great curiosity and talent in their different design approaches. I am impressed and inspired by what they are discovering and creating."

Decorative arts student, Rosie Norman, said: “I have gone from thinking how hard it would be to use recycled materials to being really inspired and interested in incorporating recycled fabrics into my work. I have found it so interesting to learn about the damage which is being done by not recycling fabrics. It is amazing the extent to which you can reinvent a fabric or product so that you would never know it had a previous life.”

Related categories:  Recyclable materials   Textile recycling