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WORTH Partnership Project

WORTH Community

WORTH is about creating a relevant community throughout Europe whose members share vision and values around design and innovation.

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WORTH Community (79)

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  • Innovation Manager at the Crafts Council

Alma Daskalaki

Responsibilities

Alma Daskalaki is Innovation Manager at the Crafts Council (UK). In her role, she develops innovation initiatives showcasing and creating opportunities for makers working in the intersections of craft, science, technology and engineering. She explores developments in materials, processes and technologies in craft practice, advocates the value of making skills in the creative industries and economy, and manages projects that encourage cross-sector collaboration. She also represents the Crafts Council on the Materials and Design Exchange resource network that connects material science, design and making in academia and industry.

Coming from a design practice background, she completed an MA in Curating Contemporary Design at Kingston University and the Design Museum. Following this she has worked in curatorial roles and on various creative programmes for the Crafts Council, the Design Museum and Brompton Design District developing and delivering a wide variety of exhibitions and events including Make:Shift, Build Your Own, Designs of the Year 2013, the Brompton Pitch, and Design Road Professional Dubai.

WORTH Community
Ambassadors
  • Design Consultant - New Product Development Unit at CETMA (research and technology organisation)

Sarah DeCristofaro

Responsibilities

Sarah is a Biomedical Engineer with a PhD in Innovative Technologies from "The BioRobotics Institute of Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies." She has years of expertise in mechanical design, manufacturing, risk assessment, and R&M. She is particularly interested in innovation, design, and 3D printing. She has previously served as a Mentor in the Worth Partnership Project I.

She currently works on design and product development in a variety of industries, including medical, fashion, wearables, and consumer products. She is a persistent problem solver who enjoys working in groups. She enjoys assisting her customers in being more market competitive by incorporating innovation into their products and providing a better user experience.

WORTH Community
Mentors
  • CFO at Prophyl Ltd., CEO at D-LAB Consulting

Balazs Dobay

Responsibilities

Balazs is the founder, CEO, and organisational development coach of D-LAB Consulting Ltd. He holds a BSc in Economics, an MA in HR Counselling, and hundreds of hours of coach education. Rayner Institute Canada and Points Of YouTM Israel provided him with international coaching qualifications. He is an experienced public and private sector accountant (with an IFRS degree), a member of various professional and social organisations, and one of the founders of the HR Club at the Pécs-Baranya Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hungary.

After a decade of experience in leadership roles and a rising career in finance, accounting, and education management positions, he discovered that the potentials inside him might be far better employed for supporting others than leading them. He understood that the information he gained while working in the government and private sector in the departments of IT, taxation, finance, controlling, HR, accounting, and, of course, education allows him to develop a self-employed career. He is in "flow" in his coaching and counselling activities and has a solid business experience. He is following in the footsteps of a polyhistor. As an interim or external manager, he continues to use his leadership talents for the benefit of his SME clients.

Balazs often claims that he is preoccupied with removing roadblocks in his personal and professional life. His activities are intertwined: coaching and mentoring, business consulting, interim management, and organisational development are all on the agenda at his company. He is in charge of Rayner Institute Canada's Hungarian language education, as well as an online ICF ACSTH recognised Executive Coach & Leadership Training in Hungary.

His motto is a quote from Frank Herbert: "…you must not look far afield for problems. Such problems may never arrive. Instead, tend to the wolf within your fences. The packs ranging outside may not even exist.”

WORTH Community
Mentors
  • Executive Director of the Lithuanian Design Forum

Audrone Drungilaite

Responsibilities

Audrone has been interested in design ever since she began to study at a local children’s art school. Even after launching a career in credit management, she couldn’t leave her love of design behind and, after studies in France, she resolved to make it her future.

Winning the Lithuanian Design Award in 2013 and being nominated for the Young Designer of the Year competition in 2014 nailed it and since 2014 she has been chief executive of the Lithuanian Design Forum (LDF). The LDF is a non-governmental organization that seeks to raise the profile of design as a factor for sustainable economic growth and as a catalyst for societal development, across manufacturing, communication and public life.

Audrone is also responsible for the management of Design Week Lithuania, the biggest design festival in the Baltics. A graduate of Vilnius Academy of Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and a Master’s in Cultural Management and Politics, Audrone is an enthusiastic promoter of Lithuanian design around the world – and sometimes curates Lithuanian design exhibitions abroad.

WORTH Community
Ambassadors
  • Lifestyle Specialist, Branding Expert, and Sustainable Luxury Advocate with a global focus on preserving cultures and traditions

Marcella Echevarria

Responsibilities

Sector: Lifestyle, Artisan and Designer, Branding luxury and sustainability 

Marcella Echavarria is a lifestyle specialist. She collaborates with designers and artisans around the world developing links that connect local knowledge with global trends.  Her specialty is branding luxury and sustainability in a way that preserves cultures and traditions. 

Marcella has 25 years of hands-on, first-hand experience in starting businesses, establishing bridges between cultures and people and integrating sustainability and profitability. She founded SURevolution in 2005 in collaboration with Donna Karan, one of the first global brands to link the world of luxury with the handmade.  

In 2010 she started her boutique consulting firm focused on strategic branding and creative communication. She holds a bachelor from Brown University, a masters in sustainable development from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and a career in the publishing world as editor of magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Hand Eye and contributor to many others such as Selvedge, Vogue, House and Leisure, Cover Magazine, Trend Tablet and Konfekt, among many others. 

In 2018 Marcella started XTANT, a yearly global gathering dedicated to heritage textiles, along with Kavita Parmar. 

She co-teaches the course Crafting Your Brand specially tailored for textile businesses in collaboration with Polly Leonard from Selvedge Magazine. She is a frequent speaker at universities and sustainability forums.  

Her clients include individual creators, artisanal brands, textile related brands, retail concepts, and travel companies, among others. She has led consulting projects for The United Nations (UN), Unesco, USAID, Technoserve, The International Finance Corporation (IFC), The Organization of American States (OAS), Vital Voices, Porticus Foundation, The Governments of Spain, Colombia, Chile, Cambodia, México, Perú, and Swaziland.

WORTH Community
Steering Board Members
  • Growing a new textile economy

Fibershed

Social media links
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Responsibilities

Fibershed is a global movement of local communities developing regional fiber systems that build soil and protect the health of our biosphere. As a thought leadership and advocacy organization focused on cross-industry collaboration, the non-profit is on a mission to mobilize and guide the textile and apparel industries in (re)building and strengthening local textile supply chains based on social, bio-circular, and regenerative values.

Fibershed emphasises the urgent need for more transparency and respect for our textiles and clothing and strives to restore the lost relationship with the origin of what we use and wear every day. The organisation embraces the geographical characteristics of each specific region with a deep understanding of social and environmental restoration needs.

At a local level, each Fibershed affiliate takes an action-oriented approach by working closely with local impact entrepreneurs, educational institutions, policymakers, and all other stakeholders who want to contribute to a new just, regenerative textile economy.

Founded in California in 2012, the movement today has more than 60 regional affiliates in North America, Europe, Asia, and South America who connect and share knowledge. Under the leadership of Fibershed Netherlands, the 14 European affiliates set up a Fibershed Europe platform from which cross-regional cooperation and knowledge exchange are facilitated, with the aim of building a strong, decentralised, bio-circular and regenerative textile economy in Europe.

About Stijntje Jaspers

Creative Circular Changemaker, Program Director and Chairman of the Board, Fibershed Netherlands

After more than 25 years of experience in leading creative positions in the internationally operating Dutch fashion retail sector, Stijntje is now fully committed to circular textiles and clothing. As co-founder and chairman of the board of Stichting Fibershed Nederland, she focuses on translating creative concepts and progressive visions into practical reality through transparent and pre-competitive interdisciplinary collaboration and educational programs.

About Martine Nieuwenhuis

Raising awareness for systemic change, Business Leader and Executive Board Fibershed Netherlands

Martine brings over 20 years of experience in concept and project management in the international creative industry as a marketing and e-commerce expert. She is committed to guiding fashion and retail brands towards a new, holistic way of entrepreneurship, embracing social, environmental, and business realities. As a co-founder and board member of Stichting Fibershed Nederland, she focuses on setting up innovation and education programmes and ensuring that projects are realised within budget, on time, and in a responsible manner.

WORTH Community
Ambassadors
  • Director Of The Innovation Department At Aep, Chair Of The Cultural & Creative Industries Sector Group, And Coordinator Of Aep's Participation In The Horizon 2020 Project, Innovation Journey

Ceu Filipe

WORTH Community
Ambassadors
  • Interdisciplinary platform for Slovenia's creative sector

Centre for Creativity

Social media links
Responsibilities

Centre for Creativity is an interdisciplinary platform that connects, promotes, presents and supports the activities and development of Slovenia’s cultural and creative sector (CCS). With its programmes, the Centre works to develop the potentials of the sector’s social and economic value and its autonomy while forging stronger ties between the CCS and the business, science, education and other sectors. The project serves to establish a relevant support platform for innovations in the Republic of Slovenia and constitutes an integral part of the support system in this context.

Centre for Creativity operates within Museum of Architecture and Design and is co-financed by European Union from European Regional Development Fund and by Republic of Slovenia.

#excellentcollaborations #eufundingatitsbest #sustainableprojects #itsworthit #yougetthemoneytomakeithappen

WORTH Community
Ambassadors
  • Fashion - Textiles, Clothing, Footwear, Leather, Fur, Accessories

Paulo Gonçalves

Responsibilities

Paulo Gonçalves is the Editor-in-Chief of the Portuguese luxury fashion magazine Soul and the Director of Communication at APICCAPS (Portuguese Footwear Association).

Since 1998, when he joined this ever-changing sector, he has contributed to the expansion of the Portuguese footwear business.

His passion as a journalist has led to the Portuguese Soul magazine being disseminated and in demand in about a hundred countries globally. Because of his vision, the world is becoming more aware of Portugal's efforts to develop national talent, whether in fashion, culture, or, more broadly, the "portugalidade" (as he calls it).

Paulo is also a fashion and communication consultant, with European and worldwide branding projects in his portfolio. He shares his expertise with businesses outside of the footwear sector.

Recently, Paulo was the speaker for the announcement that the Portuguese footwear industry will invest 140 million Euros in sustainability over the next three years, establishing his country's sector as the leading international reference for the growth of the future industry. In this context, Paulo positions himself not just as a fashion expert, but also as an expert in internationalisation, information, technology, innovation, and design.

WORTH Community
Steering Board Members
  • Fashion and Jewellery Designer, Stylist and Creative Director

Kolbrun Yr Gunnarsdottir

Social media links
Responsibilities

Kolbrun Yr Gunnarsdottir is a jewellery and fashion designer based in Reykjavik, Iceland. She studied fashion design at IED Barcelona and is an accomplished SME owner of her design companies.

Kolbrun has been a designer since 2003, and has worked on a variety of projects including designing for other businesses, styling, and costumes for music videos and fashion films. She also owns her self-titled sustainable fashion business, as well as her jewellery companies, IIDEM and VAKIR, for which she continues to design jewels.

She constantly strives to design ethically and to be as environmentally friendly as possible, using ethically sourced materials and processes. In fact, to keep her brands local, she designs, develops, and manufactures each piece in the heart of Reykjavik.

#sustainablefashion #sustainablejewelry #fashiondesign

RELEVANT WEBSITES

kolbrun.net

vakir.net

MEMBER OF

Icelandic Fashion Council

WORTH Community
Steering Board Members