About
Orsola de Castro, creative director of From Somewhere, the revolutionary label she started in 1997, and the first to address the issue of pre-consumer waste and reproducibility in recycling for the fashion industry, is known as the Upcycling Queen.
Orsola's Inside Design exhibition will celebrate her visionary and ethical approach to cloth making. The exhibition will be about the design process and about what is important to her: touch, colour, how dresses fall, and how clothes fit. The show will explore how fashion has responsibilities and yet must look great. This exhibition will also celebrate with the launch of the new From Somewhere website.
Orsola discovered the delights of pre-consumer waste when she visited Miles, one of Italy's best known high-end knitwear manufacturers, and she immediately focused on the remnants and surplus as a source of material for her designs. This pre-consumer waste became gems for her to play with. From Somewhere collaborations include upcycled collections for Jigsaw, Robe di Kappa, Tesco and Speedo.
Inspired by both punk and hippies and also interested in the free flow of ideas between high and low fashion, Orsola found herself designing an Oscar dress for Livia Firth, wife of Best Actor norminee Colin, in March 2010. From Somewhere has also collaborated with Speedo, reusing and upcycling obsolete swimwear and fabrics to create new items, such as the Unity dress designed to celebrate the 2012 Olympic spirit.
In 2011, Orsola together with partner Filippo Ricci founded Reclaim To Wear, an organization that brings designers, producers and distributors to create upcycled capsule collections. Reclaim To Wear collaborations have included Livia Firth and Central Saint Martins, as well as Topshop Reclaim To Wear, a bestselling capsule collection which launched in June 2012 and is still ongoing.
Orsola, together with Filippo Ricci, is the co-founder and co-curator of Estethica - the eco-platform at London Fashion Week showcasing sustainable designers since 2006.
Orsola is a regular lecturer for many universities in the UK including the Chelsea College of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent and Falmouth University as well as guest speaker at Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins. Her awards include 2004 winner of Green Apple National Bronze Prize For Commerce and Industry; 2008 winner of both Designer of the Year and Innovation RE:Use awards at the RE:Fashion Awards in London and 2010 winner of the fashion and accessories category at the Observer Ethical Awards.
