The Erich Kästner School has been a source of fresh Hamburg fashion talent for years. Around 100 pupils present their own creations every year at the school’s own “Farmsen Fashion Week.” Everything from the garment’s neckline to hem was designed and tailored by the students themselves. Reason enough to take a closer look: What does “design” actually mean anyway? Where do the forms come from? Does everything always have to fit together to be beautiful? Headed by Maren Wächter, the EKS Fashion Department is cooperating with the “Mobile Worlds” project to answer these and similar questions.

Collaborative workshops explore materials and their mutability, what has been found and reinterpreted, taking things apart and putting them together. These radical improvisation techniques are by no means limited to fashion—they are also always required when people and things migrate. Design, one can already conclude, is about a productive attitude towards the world.

Video © Tim Kaiser

The workshops were conceived and led by designers Anne Schwätzler, Tamari Nikoleishvili, Katharina Trudzinski, Bisrat Negassi und Sarah Amah Duah.. They form the basis for developing a new EKS collection shown at both the MKG and the EKS in 2017.

Performer Katharina Oberlik also worked with students to develop a choreography that had less to do with the “perfect catwalk” than with questions as to how to position yourself in relation to spaces—especially if you are wearing something kind of funny-looking.