Dhaka, Apr 24 : The inauguration ceremony of an international fashion design exhibition titled ‘Local International’ was held on Tuesday, 23 April 2019 evening at the Gyantapas Abdur Razzaq Bidyapeeth, Dhanmondi premise.
The exhibition presenting the results of the Fashion Design exchange projects between Bangladesh and Berlin since 2015. This project is initiated by Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, Weissensee School of art and design, Berlin, Berlin University of the Arts- in cooperation with BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology.
In her welcoming speech, Dr. Kirsten Hackenbroch, Director, Goethe-Institut Bangladesh expressed her happiness about the exhibition ‘Local International’ is presented in Dhaka. The five-day show offers a space for reflection and for planning new action: on the production and design processes of (local to global) fashion and on transcultural programs as effective ways to build sustainable co-production and cooperation.
Terming Bangladesh as one of the most important countries in the fashion production, Prof Heike Selmer of the Weissensee School of art and design berlin said that the fashion designers need to know where fashion is produced.
Prof Valeska Schmidt-Thomsen, Berlin University of the Arts has expressed her optimism that the overall fashion scene from both Germany and Bangladesh will be highly benefited from this project.
BUFT’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ayub Nabi Khan highly praised the initiative to promote sustainability, fair- trade and design methods in this exhibition and heartily thanked Goethe-Institut and Bengal Foundation for organizing the event. As an appreciation of the exhibition, Prof. Khan said, “The works displayed in the exhibition by talented designers exhibit few solutions to these issues of existing practices of fashion business and offer future destiny of fashion designers role in achieving a healthy and environmental friendly planet.“
Inaugurating the event, Michael Schultheiss, Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy recalled his memories for seeing parts of the “Local International” exhibition in Weissensee (Berlin) in April 2016, he congratulated all the organizers of this exhibition for taking up such an issue, which is extremely important and very vital for the cooperation between Bangladesh and Germany.
LOCAL INTERNATIONAL is an international cultural exchange program between Bangladesh and Germany focusing on sustainability and fair production methods within the textile industry. From the year 2015, 48 fashion designers and fashion students from Berlin and Dhaka have been selected to participate in LOCAL INTERNATIONAL project. In lectures and specialized workshops, the participants were given an insight into the topics of sustainability, fair-trade and design methods, in order to develop their own creative approaches, concepts, products and collections. The result of these projects has been presented earlier in two exhibitions: Local International I and Local International II.
The project partners are Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin and Universität der Künste Berlin, in cooperation with BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT). The Bengal Foundation and the Fashion Revolution are the exhibition partners.
This exceptional exhibition will remain open to all until Sunday, April 28, 2019, every day from 12 pm to 8 pm.