25 September 2022

Insights into the selected projects complying with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the 'Creatives For Our Future' program of the Swarovski Foundation

Recently in mid-September, the six young talents who submitted projects for the 'Creatives For Our Future' program of the London-based Swarovski Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships were presented to the public with a reception at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

The Swarovski Foundation was set up in 2013 in honor of Daniel Swarovski who founded the company 1895 in the Tyrolean Alps in Austria. 'Creatives For Our Future' is one of the programs of the foundation. The aim of the program is to support projects in disciplines like fashion, design, art, architecture and engineering which comply with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations for protecting the planet and for ensuring that by 2030 people worldwide live in peace and prosperity. The UN-goals concern very different aspects of everyday life including 'Responsible Consumption and Production', 'Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure' or 'Partnerships For The Goals'.

Last year's projects of the nine selected creatives are published with statements by the mentors at sfcreatives.org/impact. One of them is the project concerning the integration of mending into the creation of a fashion collection from worn-out clothes developed by the student of the University of Applied Arts Vienna Shuzo Matsuhashi from Japan.

In the second year of the special Swarovski Foundation program, six talents were selected from submissions by more than 230 creatives from 52 countries. Each selected creative will be supported with 20.000.- Euro and a knowhow transfer from specialized institutions and mentors. The fields of activities are described with short summaries at sfcreatives.org/cohort2022 such as the work of New York-based Aradhita Parasrampuria who implements knowledge from biology for a circular textile system, Florencia Valladares from Chile who focuses on technology for identifying the exact materials of textile waste which is necessary for a circular economy in the fashion business, or Charlotte Werth (United Kingdom) who researches on alternative ways of textile dyeing and the co-creation of textile patterns with pigment-producing bacteria.