In January of this year the AMFI-brand Individuals celebrated its tenth season and hosted the opening event of the Downtown programme of the Amsterdam Fashion Week at the By AMFI Statement Store. A few days later the brand presented its new collection La Petite Mort to 800 fashionisti at the Westergasfabriek. This brand, this education project, this reality school, is not only unique in fashion education in the Netherlands but also in the world.
The Individuals studio lies at the heart of the AMFI building, in the old board room of the Amstel Brewery. It’s a striking room with original wood paneling, grand fireplace and naked dancing muses on the ceiling. The room is a hub of activity with students working from early in the morning till last thing in the evening. I was curious to learn from some of Generation 10 how they felt about their time in Individuals. I spoke to Yvonne Kwok (Design), Daphne Burgwal (Management) and Bing Gall (Branding).
What made you want to do Individuals in the first place?
Yvonne: ‘It was such a good experience, all three departments working together. You learn to work in a team and for a designer this is good. I am really an independent designer but I wanted to learn more how to work with others.’
Daphne: ‘I am very interested in the production process and in my internship I never saw the relationship between design, production and branding. In individuals I understood the connection and I got to work with a lot more responsibility than in my internship.’
Pattern drawing and cutting
If I was a second year student thinking about which semester programme to take, why should I do Individuals?
Bing: ‘It’s great for your resume. You can say you have worked for a company. With your internship as well you then have a year of working with companies by the time you graduate.’
Yvonne: ‘The transition from second year to Individuals is a big step. In design in the second year you have to show one outfit per week, in Individuals it’s three. Therefore, a lot of the design students are scared to do Individuals because of the hard work.’
Design students working with teacher Peter Leferink
Was there a particular moment of your time in Individuals which was very special to you?
Bing: ‘I was involved in the Downtown event. We had decided to make it an exhibition to commemorate the ten seasons of Individuals, at first it wasn’t working out. None of us in the Individuals branding team had made an exhibition before. We had no money and everything was on us. We had to make it work within one month. We worked our asses off. When we were finished one of our teachers told us we had done a great job. I was so emotional when it all came together. It felt like the first big thing in my life!’
Daphne: ‘When I think back on Individuals there is one main thing that comes to mind. I was the manager responsible for knitwear and I had three styles to look after in the collection. At one moment I really had too much to do, all at the same time. I had to visit the factory in Belgium and I couldn’t do it all. I gave one piece to another manager to deal with. It was my responsibility but I had to let it go. This is team work. You can’t claim anything as your own.’
Branding students working
Yvonne: ‘Individuals gave me a chance to prove myself, to myself. Creating the collection was a feeling, an emotion, it was an organic process.’
Amsterdam. March 2011. I lock my office door after a long day of meetings. It’s late, the rooms are dark, AMFI is asleep. The only sound is the distant beat of music from the Individuals room. The doors are open. Two students, their backs to me are dancing in time to the music. As I watched I could swear I saw the muse smile…
Text by Leslie Holden (Head of Fashion & Design department)
Catwalk photography: Peter Stigter
Individuals collection 'La Petite Mort' at AIFW
