Neo Craft collage techniques ––– Deaf and mute students: emphasising their natural strong sense of touch approach to create a modern transformation of tradition costumes, while supporting their local identity and community.

01. THE PROBLEM

The Fashion school in Skopje (Macedonia) teaches fashion design and crafts to deaf and mute students. During Skopje Fashion week, the school contacted Istituto Marangoni London and asked for support on delivering modern and experimental outcomes when looking at traditional local traditions and costumes.

02. THE SPECIFIC SOLUTION

As representative of Istituto Marangoni London Fashion design BA’s courses for this collaboration, I designed a live streaming workshop where I have guided them through the technique of collage making.

As the students were deaf and mute, my will was to emphasise their natural approach to touch to help interpreting this new technique. The technique itself is crafty it requires to cut/ glue/stitch/and helps developing an eye on composition through layering.

This was a great bridge between their natural skillset and the theme of craft itself. Printed paper, family pictures, local fabrics and crafts and threads were used during the workshop.

03. THE OUTCOME

The students learned and familiarised with a new technique, achieving great results for their personal projects. The workshop helped them looking at the traditional local crafts with fresh and modern eyes, giving everyone a chance to support more their local identity and community.