STUDIO SAMSON at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2016

Meet Karmen Samson, born and raised in a small village called Wilnis. She studied fashion branding at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, where she will graduate in June. Her passions are photography and film, mostly within the context of fashion.

You can see Karmen Samson’s work at the Heritage Exhibition. Friday July 1 open at 18:30 and Saturday July 2 open at 16:00 (free entrance).

What are your main achievements in your career at this moment? 
One of my main achievements was completing my internship at Iris van Herpen. The creations of Iris van Herpen have always been an inspiration to me. To work there was truly a once in a life time expe-rience. Another big achievement for me was when I created my first fashion film called AETHER. A project where I creatively totally went my own way.


In what projects are you involved at this moment? 
Currently I’m working on my branding graduation project. This is a retail design project for the Dutch brand First of August.

Marieke van Geffen

Today we have the pleasure to introduce you to Marieke van Geffen, who’s a 24-year-old Dutch fashion designer. She graduated from the HKU Utrecht in 2014 and established her own label, Marieke van Geffen. Marieke's collection will be presented at the Fashion Show Programme.

Hello, Marieke! Please introduce yourself. Who are you? Where do you come from? What is your field of specialisation?

Hi there! I’m Marieke. I am currently working on my new collection SS/AW2015, which is planned to be released on June 15. Besides working on my collection I follow a course at the Dutch Shoe Academy in Utrecht, where I am learning the craft of making shoes, so  I can fulfill a long-term wish of mine: to be able to design and fabricate a total collection from head to toe.

Where are you based?

I live and work in Utrecht. It is a beautiful old city in the heart of the Netherlands, such a nice place to both live and work!

What inspires you in general?

The human body is what inspires me the most. I am always thinking about how to protect the  body for what the future will bring us. It is challenging, because only time will tell us what is really going to happen to mankind. Therefore, I make my own prophecies about what the future will bring us. My collections are based on these stories.

What place or city do you find inspiring?

This is a hard one! I find inspiration in many places and people. Ideas sometimes just pop up out of the blue. But you if you want me to choose just one place, I would say Stockholm. The calmness and the atmosphere there give me a happy feeling. The old town and the beautiful nature with a lot of water give me the rest I need in order to create new work. Also, the Swedish way of living and style fits me well.