The Inaugural Real Leather. Stay Different. Nordic Region Student Design Competition, in partnership with ArtsThread, is now closed- with the winners officially chosen!
The category winners are:
The category winners were chosen over a month long selection process, involving Real Leather. Stay Different. representatives and, ultimately, a judging panel of industry representatives who accessed entries anonymously, with their scores being aggregated to establish each category winner. The Nordic Region People’s Choice winner, Maria Julia Echarte Pascual, was selected via an online public vote which ran between 28th July – 25th August.
The Overall Winner, chosen from the category winners, is:
Name: Emilia Utbult, Beckmans College of Design, Sweden
Course: Fashion BA
Instagram: @emiliautbultkarlsson
Emilia graduated from Beckmans College of Design in 2020, and is a fashion designer with a passion for working in a solution-oriented and sustainable way throughout all stages of the creative process. Her goal is to create clothing and products that are inviting and fun – with a twist. As a designer, she works in an experimental and spontaneous way with textile techniques and her unique design process, where she is driven by the idea of creating fun and interesting clothes that everyone can enjoy. Ruby GG228, her entry to this competition, is about shaping her origins in a contemporary fashion context. Her point of departure was references for clothing from the fishing culture in Gothenburg’s northern archipelago and the move to an urban city.
Name: Riikka Peltola, Aalto University, Finland
Course: Fashion, Clothing and Textile Design MA
Instagram: @riikkapelt
Riika Peltola is 28-year-old fashion designer and fiber artist From Finland. In the end of 2020, she graduated from Aalto University with Fashion as her major. She creates precious knit and crochet objects by adapting traditional craft techniques into original ways of using materials. By working with slow handcraft techniques, she discovers qualities and develops a common language between shape, material and technique. Translating memories into a material experience by creating associations between past and present is core to her artistic practice.
Name: Maria Julie Echarte Pascual, VIA University College, Denmark
Course: Fashion Design and Business Bachelor
Instagram: @ohmybubbletea
Maria Julia was born and raised in Tenerife before moving to Madrid to study fine arts and fashion design. After a few years of living and working in Spain, she received the opportunity to further her education at VIA University College in Denmark, where she is still currently a student. Her interests lie in history, fashion and the arts- which she attributes to her mother being a highly skilled seamstress and designer herself, as well as an artist. Being surrounded by creative people during her childhood helped shape her own creativity. Her entry is inspired by Japanese school uniforms with marine-based themes.
Stay tuned for more updates on the winners and a look into their inspirations for each design!
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