Exploring Creative and Collaborative Upcycling at Anjos 70 Flea-and-Art Market: A Design Thinking Perspective
Last Sunday I went to the Anjos 70 Flea- and Art market. Anjos 70 is a neighbourhood located in the eastern part of Lisbon. It is named after the street Rua dos Anjos, which runs through the neighbourhood. It is known for its vibrant and diverse community, with a mix of residents from different cultural backgrounds. In recent years, Anjos 70 has become a popular destination for artists, musicians, and young professionals. The neighbourhood is also home to several cultural and creative spaces, such as music venues, art galleries, and co-working spaces.
During the event, I had the opportunity to speak with Herizo Robin, the Madagascan fashion designer and social entrepreneur behind the ZOUZOUDAGO brand, which is an unconventional and self-expression upcycling fashion brand. I became aware of him through his stand for innovative and playful upcycling designs and have started a conversation with him. He is a social entrepreneur and change-maker and is involved in the impact industry for young entrepreneurs in Lisbon and at the same time part of the creative scene. His commitment to sustainable fashion and his belief that change can happen through collaboration while keeping nature in mind was truly inspiring.
Clothing is a way we can express ourselves in society. It offers so many possibilities for individualism. As a business school student, I often find myself missing my creative work, so in particular I enjoyed learning about his collaborative platform, which aims to initiate and provoke change by exploring the intersection between fashion, nature, and biodiversity. This experience gave me new inspiration to give my creativity more space in my life. I love the idea of re-designing and individualizing clothes through recycling and combining fabrics from different garments into a new piece of clothing. I bought an old denim skirt from the designer that was individualised through the recycling of two different fabrics so that both pieces of fabric became a new life.
Furthermore, I also shared with the designer my sustainable fashion collaboration in Ghana, as well as the workshop ideas for our design thinking project of repurposing old donated clothes that can no longer be worn. The exchange of ideas to implement recycling workshops in order to bring people with a common passion for fashion and handicraft activities together, can promote awareness of the value of a textile product, and encourage diversity. The designer also offers similar workshops. Perhaps an interesting cooperation for our Design Thinking project could arise here.
From a class perspective, this experience connects to topics related to sustainability, creativity, and social Innovation as well as the importance of collaboration. It provides a great example of how these concepts can be combined to create positive change while promoting artistic expression and individuality. Systems change in the fashion industry is not easy, but the label ZOUZOUDAGO has proven that it can be fun, creative and joyful.
