Classes Архиви

Sustainability and business in fashion: MELBA class with Réka Szentesi and Kinga Csengő

November 10, 2023

The latest edition of the MELBA SCHOOL 2023 series is dedicated to fashion design and the topic Sustainability and business in fashion, moderated by Réka Szentesi and Kinga Csengő, mentors of some of the most significant projects of the Hungarian Design and Fashion Agency.

The class is suitable for graduate students, young, practicing textile and fashion designers as well as owners of Bulgarian fashion brands. The two-day practical course focuses on two highly relevant topics for the development of any contemporary fashion brand: sustainability and business sales.

The practical two-day course provides an in-depth look at the key steps in building a business strategy, developing a focused business mindset, generating sales and building a sustainable brand. The course looks at sustainability as a system that works not just towards reducing the carbon footprint of manufacturing, but also as a system for producing marketable products. Otherwise it is a waste of time, money, energy, materials and talent.

WHEN AND WHERE
First part of the class:
22 November, Wednesday, from 10:00 – 16:00 | Hungarian Cultural Institute Sofia, 10:00 – 16:00, 16 Aksakov Street, Sofia
Second part of the class:
23 November, Thursday, from 10:00 – 16:00 | Hungarian Cultural Institute Sofia, 16 Aksakov Street, Sofia
WHO IS IT FOR?
Textile and fashion designers. Professionals and employed in the field. Students in the field. People with knowledge of textiles and fashion. Anyone who is discovering the world of textile design as a new career opportunity.

PROGRAMME of the two-day course:
22 November, Wednesday
10:00 Welcome and brief introduction of the speakers
10:15-11:00 Presentation of the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency and its projects
11:00-13:00 First lecture:
Sustainable Fashion
What is sustainability?
The global fashion supply system and how the industry works
Fast fashion as a business model vs. slow fashion
The problems associated with overconsumption and overproduction
Environmental and social problems of the fashion industry
EU sustainability directives
Best practices for fashion brands to become more sustainable
13:00-14:00 ч. Lunch break

14:00-16:00 ч. Second lecture:
Business and Sales: Definition of sales, difference between sales and merchandising. The work of the sales representative and the sales team
How do designers work together with the sales rep in a team? How to put together a collection that sells well? Seasonal discounts
How to create a sellable product?
Buyer – who is the buyer, how do we work and communicate with them?
Pricing strategies
Differences between local and international market#

23 November, Thursday

10:00-13:00 Practical task (group work) Designing a small collection of 5 silhouettes using sustainability principles + preparing sales materials in line with the collection, pricing the designed products;Preparing a description of the collection;

13:00-13:30 Lunch break

13:30-15:30 Presentation of the collection to a fictitious buyer (speaker)

Task assessment

WHAT DO I NEED FOR THE CLASS?

Participants should bring personal computers, preferably with design software installed, otherwise paper (A3 or A4 / 5-6 per person, pencils for drawing/designing); scissors, glue sticks and old fashion magazines for making so-called “mood boards”.

TICKETS
Regular ticket – BGN 100
For students and pupils – BGN 80
The class is held in English.
** Request your ticket at hello@studiokomplekt.com with the title. The number of places in this class is limited, so hurry to reserve yours. We look forward to seeing you.

ORGANIZERS
Studio Komplekt | The project is supported by the National Culture Fund under the One Year Grant Programme.
Partners: Hungarian Cultural Institute Sofia

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Réka Szentesi is a Senior Project Manager at the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency, where she is responsible for the Talents Mentoring Programme, where young designers receive training on various topics to support them in building their careers. She is a sustainability expert and also works with the sales team.

Kinga Csengő is a project manager at the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency, where she is responsible for supporting the sales activities of Hungarian brands at local and international level. She is also head of the manufacturer mentor programme, where Hungarian manufacturers receive support on business development issues.

The Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency

The Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency was established to provide structured and efficient professional assistance to all industry players. There is a huge economic and tourism potential in the fashion and design industry. The Hungarian Government intends to develop these areas. The aim is to raise the profile of the garment and textile industries and the various branches of the light industry related to fashion and design, so that their reputation matches their traditions and Hungary becomes the centre of this region. In the course of its work, the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency cooperates with Hungarian and international professional organisations, educational institutions, members of the public and the private sector to mutually establish the most important pillars of its strategy.

MELBA DESIGN INITIATIVES is launched in 2022. MELBA SCHOOL – a series of educational classes that aim to foster professional development and creative thinking. The classes are led by established designers and visual artists whose work contributes not only to the development of their discipline, but also to society as a whole.

This was the 5th edition of MELBA Sofia Design Festival

November 22, 2022

The fifth edition of MELBA Sofia Design Festival offered ten days full of valuable and fascinating content on different locations in Sofia. The event introduced intriguing foreign speakers to the Bulgarian audience, reviewed the most interesting and significant of Bulgarian design in the past year, held classes and discussions for professionals and offered six exhibitions on different topics. The rich programme included:

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, which brought together over 200 people at Toplocentrala and another 100 online. They all became part of the most significant annual design event in Bulgaria. Seven design professionals from Europe – Liza Enebis and Wanwai Shum (DUMBAR/DEPT® Studio), Holly Pereira, Adam Štěch, Mateusz Machalski, Eli Gutierrez and Maria Gavriluk (Gunia Project) – engaged the audience in fascinating stories about design in the service of socially relevant causes, about the heritage and current trends in typography, how design is reviving local crafts, its role in times of war and the need for a little chaos in our lives.

The exhibition Review of Bulgarian Design, which has become a tradition, invites for the first time an external curator – Marina Dragomirova from Studio Furthermore. The annual selection, titled Local Beauty, showcased the latest in Bulgarian design and invited visitors to explore local aesthetics through the eyes of nine artists who created works from regional materials, resources and traditions, most of them specially for the occasion. Jewellery inspired by the sound of the bagpipe (Dimitar Stankov), a visual narrative about the path of rye (Maria Jekova), a beeswax sink (Raya Stefanova), ceramic dishes with superheroes (Nikoleta Nosovska), a contemporary wool carpet (Lyouba Assadourova), light fixtures made of Rhodope stones (Milen Radev), objects made from melted car headlights (Neva Balnikova), a contemporary interpretation of traditional old mountain technique (Yana Yunakova) and bottling of fragrances typical for different Bulgarian regions (Dani Yordanova) – check them out and get to know the stories of all nine participants here.

LOCAL BEAUTY: Review of Bulgarian Design 2022
📷 Mihail Novakov

Four more exhibitions engaged visitors in a dialogue with design through different themes, such as the vast topic TIME, which was presented in the eponymous exhibition at Port.A Gallery through the illustrations of 18 artists shortlisted from a total of 204 entries in the MELBA and Fashion Days competition from summer 2022. As part of the fifth edition of the festival, we have launched a new series of annual exhibitions called Diploma project. Their aim is to present the thesis works of students in different fields of design. We opened the series with an exhibition by Spas Yordanov, a graduate of the Ceramics and Porcelain program at the NBU Department of Visual Arts, presented his diploma project – the sculpture collection entitled Ceramic Lords of the Four Elements.

TIME: pop-up exhibioton MELBA х Fashion Days
📷 Mihail Novakov

Diploma project: Spas Yordanov
📷 Mihail Novakov

A subjective study of the history of Czech ceramic production was made by the exhibition Story in the gallery of the Czech Centre, which presented selected works by students of the Ceramics and Porcelain Studio of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Festival visitors were able to take a look at Hungary as a country that provides relevant and competitive responses to the economic, environmental and societal challenges exciting the world today through the exhibition SMART HUNGARY: Innovation in Industrial Design through 24 examples.

Story: exhibition of Czech ceramics | 📷 Ivo Chupetlovski

SMART HUNGARY Exhibition
📸 Diana Madzharova

This year, the diverse programme of the MELBA Festival was complemented by two discussions and two classes aimed at professionals. An educational initiative by the Know-How Show-How platform put the ethics of relationships between clients, designers and contractors up for discussion in front of a packed Czech Centre auditorium, with the aim of fostering communication on issues relating to design and the environment around us. The Know-How Show-How team also offered one-on-one meetings for young graphic designers as an opportunity to discuss projects or portfolios. In an educational class for typographers, Polish graphic designer Mateusz Machalski presented the basic principles of working with geometric sans serif type, the rules of creation and his personal design solutions to improve the process – from the sketch to the final drawing. Within the MELBA class on inclusive design, Ivelina Gadzheva talked about what causes exclusion in design processes and explored personal creative approaches together with the participants.

With great appreciation we pay special attention to the festivals website and the overall visual identity. Studio PUNKT made a memorable design for the fifth edition of the MELBA Design Festival. Our work could not be possible without the support of all partners who find meaning and value in our initiatives. We thank them equally with the participants and the audience. We are proud to have met and worked closely with wonderful people who contributed to a particularly professionally energizing 10 days of design in Sofia. See you next year!

IVANKA GEORGIEVA

December 20, 2018

Ivanka Georgieva is among the most successful Bulgarian designers of textile and fashion. She teaches at the Academy of Arts, San Francisco, and is a textile designer with 15 years of experience in Diane von Furstenberg, St. John, Zac Posen, Elisa Palomino and others.
She graduated Textile Design at the Academy in San Francisco, which can integrate into fashion, interior design, or any other industry where superficial details are observed. She chooses to specialize ot, because she already has a basic qualification and experience from Bulgaria. The other reason is that Textile actually exist as an independent industry.

After graduating from the Academy in San Francisco, she began an internship at Diane von Furstenberg, and a few months later she was offered a permanent position in the company. The DVF experience for her was a great start for development in this business. There she has learned a lot about the textile and fashion industry and now has valuable contacts. She says her work at the DVF was like a second academy because there she understood the huge difference between school and the real world of business.

She works for various fashion companies, including Zac Posen. There she developed a small capsule collection of scarves and neckties for Delta, and also she worked with a colleague from St. John-knits.

For Ivanka, textiles are the most important part of creating a collection. It is about the matter. When we are in a shop and try or touch the fabric of a cloath, we actually feel the textile. The fabric may be a print, or a knit, or a wool, and only those three words carry so much information.

The determining and important thing in the process of work, as in any art, is talent and creativity. Ivanka teaches Textile Level One, which is the only level available to learn online. It teaches students various techniques in practice and creative thinking. Its main purpose is to motivate them to think as designers and creators.

What makes her unique in the American industry is the fact that she has European base, draws very well, and at the same time she0 had the opportunity to study the technical part in America. She works with love and diligence on all collections and has achieved what she wants, namely working with companies that are one of the most successful in the fashion and textile industry. The beauty in this variety of fashion companies is in the different styles and different aesthetics, and she had the luck to have worked and created for all of them. The latest business step she’s been undertaken is her newly-opened print studio.

A Practical Creative Design Course will be held in January with the participation of Ivanka, who will share with us her personal experience of working with some of the most successful fashion houses in the world.

AWAKEN CREATIVITY by VICKY KNYSH

March 12, 2018

The incomparable and multitalented visual artist Vicky Knysh is holding her first design class at the beginning of April in Generator. As organisers of the event for Generator, we from Studio Komplekt, are thrilled and excited to be part of this creative adventure. Expect to learn some behind the scenes moves about her characteristic drawings and how they come to life in various situations and formats – pictures, short animation, motion graphics, mobile applications, showcases and various products. Minushka – Knysh’s personal brand – embodies her colourful and full of heroic world and will be present as well at the end of the event to take away some of her wonderful goodies.

Currently Vicky is based in Dublin, where she is professionally balancing between illustration, animation and commercial design. In Sofia she will delve into the subject of how one can master the art of keeping their creativity awaken. She has also invited two special guests, equally successful and inspiring designers – Assya Koleva and Mila Lozanova.

Follow Vicky Knysh in Instagram

For more information about her Design Class at Generator – visit the Facebook page of the event here.

While we sharpen our pencils for April, read some personal thoughts from Vicky about various topics:

How do you like to start and end each day? I love my day starting slowly, with a little yoga and planning the tasks. But in reality my mornings are not at all quiet. However, yoga is happening.

What’s your view on design and illustration? My look on the design totally changed as I moved to Dublin. The difference between Bulgaria and Ireland is enormous. What I’m still learning here is that design is not just beautiful, but also solves problems. The illustration has unlimited possibilities and is a very flexible means of work. With the improvement of digital media, she will have more and more life and she is going to develop in new directions.

Who and what are your biggest influences? The difficult projects which I managed to realise despite the fact that my legs were trembling, but I still managed to do them. My family and friends, and living in 3 different countries.

You have a well curated Instagram profile. What’s your relationship to social media and your audience?
I really love Instagram and I find it the perfect platform for a creative person. Social media is a super tool, but as with the case of sugar, one must consume it carefully. My audience is creative people who work as such or simply seek inspiration.

Do you have a philosophy or motto that you live by? I believe it is important to keep your inner child awake because you can create through it.

What makes you laugh? Children and Irish people after having a few drinks.

Currently listening to/reading/watching: I listen to podcasts, read TWO CARAVANS by Marina Lewycka and watch a lot of animations.

Do you have favourite tools for your work? I’ve been drawing more and more with Procreate on iPad lately, I’m just addicted to it.

What great things did you discover in 2017 and what do you expect most for 2018? In 2017 I worked in an advertising agency and I remember how every day I wanted to find a way to be a freelancer. Also, in order to create, you do not need many techniques and schemes, you must use whatever you have and just go with it. In 2018 I expect to run my first class in design and meet many new wonderful people.