00:00So what are your thoughts on the final collection?
00:03Well as I say, having been part of, having seen the development of this project
00:08right at the beginning of the year, or the end of last year I suppose,
00:11it's been fascinating having met the students from both Italy and Scotland
00:17and then to talk to them about the plans and looking at the designs
00:21and how it was linked to Leonardo da Vinci and his designs and thoughts all those years ago.
00:28It's been fascinating to see the end results.
00:30So personally I'm enormously impressed by the effort that's gone into it
00:36and by the real, again, the ideas and the vision that these students have had.
00:44And the students have learnt about sustainable manufacturing and design during this process.
00:50Why is sustainability so important to put into these collections and for them to learn about it?
00:57Well it seems to me the crazy thing has been the development of throwaway fashion
01:02along with a lot of other throwaway things, whether it's throwaway barbecues or whatever else.
01:08It seems utter madness to have this approach which makes, takes, makes and throws away.
01:16So we're reaching a critical point we have already where we've made too much of an impact on natural resources,
01:24generally over exploitation, but also developed the kind of synthetic materials
01:30which aren't very good for the environment either, or in their manufacture.
01:33So the key, it seems to me, is to rediscover the importance that nature plays in all this
01:39and where the natural materials come from.
01:41I mean just looking at wool for instance, how vital that is and what you can do with wool now,
01:45the way they've been able to create thinner and thinner and lighter and lighter materials
01:50that you would never believe was wool originally.
01:53So there's huge opportunities, whether as with a pair of fashion characters I met recently
02:02who use nettles now because they've rediscovered that nettles were used long ago to make fabrics.
02:08So it's quite fun I think to look again at this, but also how you recycle, how you reuse
02:14in an imaginative and innovative way.
02:17And what are those lessons that you hope the students will take away from this experience?
02:22Well I think having spent all this time and effort and devotion to this,
02:29having learnt particularly the skills, whether it's from the design point of view
02:35and how that is translated into making or whether they're making the results of the design.
02:42Here I think many of the students have perfected over a lot of effort and concentration
02:50the techniques that they were finding quite difficult at the beginning when I saw them.
02:54So hopefully they'll take away real skill and understanding which they can go on learning
03:01but applying to their own little businesses they want to start or whatever it is
03:05or when they go on to work for another company or whatever and they take with them
03:11that understanding of sustainability in design and fashion and also in the making.
03:18And how you make, how you, because the interesting thing I think would be to develop the virtuous circle
03:24which means you grow and die and make and design everything in a virtuous circle.
03:32That's the next thing it seems to me we ought to be looking at.
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