In its second iteration, local international evolved into an international design project and academic exchange platform with a professional development training focussing on sustainable design in the fashion and textile industry
project phase I
Berlin
local international °2 started in October 2015. It marked the first collaboration between Fashion Design Universities from Dhaka (BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology / BUFT) and Berlin (weißensee kunsthochschule berlin and Universität der Künste Berlin).
local international °2 was generously supported by Goethe-Institut Bangladesh.
After a call for applications and individual interviews, 8 fashion design students from Dhaka and 14 european students from Berlin were selected as participants.
In October 2015, the 8 participants from Dhaka visited their colleagues in Berlin for the kick-off event: 10 days packed with workshops, lectures and meetings with key figures in the area of sustainable fashion. Participants also went on to visit young Berlin-based sustainable design labels, shops and ecological fashion brands in order to research a wide spectrum of perspectives and approaches to sustainability in practice.
The project paved the way to establish a network for international design projects and practice-based research for fashion design students from Berlin and Dhaka.
project phase II
Dhaka
In November 2015, participants from Germany travelled to Dhaka for the second half of the local international workshops. The intense syllabus was composed of lectures on sustainable fashion design and field trips with site visits to local NGOs who promote fair working conditions and are specialised in crafts and artisanal textile production. The cohort also got to meet internationally operating textile producers for well known European fashion brands and discussed their approaches to fair social working conditions, sustainable production methods and ecology.
project phase III
Berlin
After weeks of research, theory and site visits, the participants started to work on their individual design projects and were continuously supported by lecturers and professors of the participating Universities. The outcomes were exhibited at kunsthalle am hamburger platz in Berlin in April 2016.