Eco-friendly Retford bio-designer wins national award for creating clothing using foraged plants and mushrooms
and live on Freeview channel 276
Basing her fashion brand on sustainability, 26-year-old Aurélie Fontan uses dyes made from plants and flowers foraged from the roadside,creating locally crafted, low impact garments, and has established herself as a designer challenging the concepts of fashion.
The items are set to be launched later this month online to coincide with London Fashion Week.
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The Young Innovators programme is a partnership between Innovate UK and the Princes Trust, which is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 30 offering annual cash awards of £5000 and one-to-one business coaching for talented young people from all backgrounds with ground-breaking business ideas, and who have the potential of becoming future leaders in innovation.
Out of 520 young entrepreneurs who applied to the programme, and following a tough and detailed assessment process, there were 63 overall winners including Aurélie – one of two from our region.
She said: "I am over the moon to become a Young Innovator Awardee, as my in-depth work and commitment to sustainable fashion is being validated, giving me so much more passion and energy to move forward with my regenerative fashion brand Osmose Studio.
Now that I am a professional designer, I am trying to incorporate some craftsmanship back into a fashion industry that has become so disconnected with its workers”
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The young entrepreneur has been working on her designs at her studio, ‘Osmose’, where her innovative creations push the boundaries of fashion and design with a fresh and creative strategy applying natural ways to produce sustainable garments. Some of her clothing collections are made from a new biodegradable leather, which is made from locally sourced wild mushrooms, and is as versatile and durable as animal leather.
Fashion, textiles, and crafts have always been a passion for the designer, with the French side of her family owning a Couture embroidery house in Paris in the 1900s, she has also worked with major brands such as Marks & Spencer and Michael Kors.