I’m so glad to learn that our friend Maia Kesseler (one of the participants of Touch the Fabric), working in team with Caroline Liehr, won the contest launced during the programme WOOL SCHOOL on initiative of The Campaign for Wool, with the support of The Woolmark Company and the patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales! The Niederrhein University participated with other four prestigious german Universities to the project which aimed to demonstrate the endless application and possibilities of the extraodrinary natural fiber that is wool, with up-coming fashion designers and with the partnership with german leading retailers. Through the support and training provided by The Woolmark Company, fashion design students generated garments of unbridled creativity, showing wool in sports, woven, knitwear for men, women and beyond. The students from the Faculty of Textile and Apparel Engineering of Niederrhein University in Monchengladbach, headed by the professors Hellen Bendt and Dr. Marina-E. Wachs, explored the theme “Knitted Wool Couture”, receiving an extraordinary support by their partner Marc Cain, renowned german fashion company, which boasts a state-of-the-art pool of machinery, including 88 knitting machines. A sensual an elegant interpretation of wool, which enhance its natural beauty and its “aura”. A refined interplay of textures and surfaces developed with the modern technologies. The winning project Crazy Sexy Wool by Maia and Caroline, “is inpired to the transformation that wool undergoes as it is processed. Immaterial at the beginning, loose, soft like a cloud it is gradually combed, compacted, stretched, twisted, thereby becoming material. It experiences the probably greatest transformation during the felting process. This becomes most evident when combining wool at various preocess strages”. – quoting the designers
“Carloine Liehr and Maia Kesseler have created the ‘zeitgeist’ couture silhouette. The body conscious knitted dress impressed by a very feminine line in finest merino wool” – Karin Veit, Creative Director of Marc Cain
Both Caroline and Maia will receive a stage of 3 months at the design department of Marc Cain, an exciting begginning!
