North Hertfordshire College’s Fashion students were joined by fashion designer Nika Pashalishvilli for a sustainability-focused employer challenge. The project was crafted to test our learners’ skills and creative thinking and push them outside of their comfort zone.
Nika is not only a graduate of Central St Martin’s University of the Arts – they’re also a graduate of North Hertfordshire College’s own Fashion programme, too! This connection with the College is what inspired the collaboration, as Nika wanted to support our current students through a work-based learning opportunity and help inspire the next generation.
Learners from our Level 2 and 3 Fashion courses worked on Nika’s creative brief themed around recycling, upcycling, and sustainability. They worked through the design process from start to finish, including researching and presenting their findings on materials recycling and regeneration in the fashion industry. This also included looking at designers who are already incorporating this into their work, helping influence their own plans.
The core brief our students worked towards involved reintegrating products which were no longer used into new fashion garments with minimum wastage. The challenge presented a great opportunity for learners to think outside the box and flex their creativity by working in different ways.
As well as helping our learners build their knowledge, the project has also helped them to learn more about themselves and what they enjoy in fashion design. Level 3 Fashion student Maria Andrei told us: “I really liked working sustainably because it is one of my interests. I loved working messy and freely without a certain pattern.”
Hollie Lewin, another of our Level 3 Fashion students, agrees. She commented: “The placement was really good. I found that I find it easier to develop ideas when draping on the mannequin rather than trying to draw anything to comes to mind. It therefore wasn’t too difficult and I came up with an outcome I liked well.”
Thank you to Nika for coming back to NHC to share your experience and helping inspire our learners!
If you’re interested in starting your own career in the fashion industry, then check out North Hertfordshire College’s Creative Industries courses! With NHC, you can stay close to home and gain amazing experience to help you go far in your future career.