"Textile Cycle Communication - Textiles as information carriers for sustainable change" - Kick-off event for the exhibition on the open day in May 2023.
As the first "hands-on" project of the new Master elective course "Fashion / Textile sustainable! communication fashion and textile design - sustain!" of Prof. Dr. Marina-Elena Wachs, innovative future-oriented design solutions were presented in the foyer of the Krefeld campus during the Sustainability Days 2022.

Seh(n)sucht nach ... taktiler Berührung mit Hilfe von Strategien der Natur (Seh(n)sucht nach ... taktiler Berührung mit Hilfe von Strategien der Natur).

The interdisciplinary "semester topic" of Prof. Wachs on "seduce me with textile sustainability - natural strategies for de-growth, adaptation and innovation" tells about the Seh(n)sucht for tactile and visual touch. The project analyzes old, vanished trades (Seyler, Reeper for example in Hamburg), the power of new old images (exhibitions in HH: The new images of Augustus; The language of fashion and others) and researches survival strategies of desert plants. Plants that grow in extreme situations, that adapt, that we consider as models for sustainable life strategies...

The interdisciplinary "annual theme" of Prof. Dr. Marina-Elena Wachs, on "sketching and greening the (design) future", asks for a greater consumer responsibility, in trade and handling with packaging possibilities and morals: wrapping, wrapping mail that is reused, for textile, fashion design and packaging (and landscaping) design!Landscapes and buildings evoke in the question of "packaging", smart sustainable covering, a change in the way we deal with objects and media, for the sake of the (surrounding) world and us humans.

An ethically sustainable "material - and cultural behaviour" looks at our resources of the future: this semester focusing on water, water scarcity, water consumption, processes and rituals with water in the everyday and at holidays. Thus, textile engineering is to lead into the next technical, material, feasible level ...

Coming together while being apart. Restrictions in the pandemic and the changed teaching education and learning conditions have challenged us to come up with new creative solutions. We are currently encountering an explosion of virtual models, and the world of fashion must also follow suit. These changed conditions open up the implementation of alternative forms of learning. We developed the Workspace as an experimental project in order to unite competencies and resources across study programs even in times of isolation.

textile sketching textile - design by "a wo/man not a mannequin"
"sketching the world! with your...statement!" We want to design analog by hand, but also explore concepts for a more physically initiated sketching in virtual space by means of textile materials and surfaces. A change in the way we deal with media, objects and the (surrounding) world is evident. How will we deal with the design process and media in a sustainable way tomorrow after the digitalization phase that is currently taking place intensively?

Fleur de FASHION: Inspirations and discovery borrowings from the Humboldt brothers or other representations of nature in the painting and art of Barbara Kasten, also of the - multisensory - material, serve to search for alternatives, for a change in the world of the 21st century. Fleur de Fashion wants to generate hybrids and collaborations, collaborations of the media + the sciences, analog + digital, the world of knowledge of yesterday (Humboldts) + tomorrow (avatars), of design disciplines + cultural studies.

Inspirations of the "Culture Sensible" (cf.: Université de Liège) and a networked thinking, -working, -researching, provides a fund to actively create hybrid systems in design. The Blue Hour becomes a relaxation hour, i.e. Sustainable and Smart Fashion Solutions, are to be experienced with further senses...-.

...(accidental) inventions and discoveries are explored, discoveries that sometimes do not require knowledge alone, but passion, instinct... the "flow" in creating, - in design, that is not nourished by intellect alone.

body protection in artificial phenomena in fashion as textile prosthetic devices and torso - inspired by the Renaissance Time.

Keywords as inspiration for the interdisciplinary >ReBirth of yourself< project in SS 2019 by Prof. Wachs, were the following:
Renaissance Time, new view on IndiviDUALITY, rebirth of values in a world of "change", the current corset of society, Humboldt Year, generation of new values, design integrates!, body-protection, torso and orthosis in fashion....

Culture-specific design codes of a country in Europe were additionally extracted and used as stylistic devices in design: Design codes that can connect people.

TEXTILEPOP is a cooperative exhibition with the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, which shows the whole range of textile competence in the field of design / engineering / management under the specialisation of SUSTAINABILITY within four exhibition areas (Spaces).

In addition, TEXTILEPOP simultaneously tests an innovative tool of curricular education and the development of industrial solutions in a hierarchy-free format.

The exhibition "TEXTILEPOP - Europeans together in SUSTAINABLE design / engineering / management", which will be on display at the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf from May 23-27, is the framework for specialist workshops and for children's activities and more.

- sustainable SMART solutions in Design/Engineering/Management.

The interdisciplinary, intercultural - or cross cultural -, interactive project Design is Music is Design - European United! (2019), is part of a research project by Prof. Dr. Marina-Elena Wachs and prefers to connect different senses, to network with other cultural representatives in design/engineering from Europe and designs new design scenarios for the "postdigital aera" - innovative design solutions: sustainable, multi-sensory... listen to the design...feel and touch the rhythm ...come to common characteristics in design / engineering / management ... together for strong European partnerships...

"Design is music - music is design: European united! Sketching the design/engineering future together in non hierarchical patterns..."
(Marina-Elena Wachs, 2018)

Under the motto "Change", students from the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology at the Hochschule Niederrhein will present their creations at the Federal Press Ball on November 29, 2019 at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin. The idea for this unique appearance for the students arose at the beginning of June 2019 on the occasion of the PolitFashion Night in Berlin. The Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology of the Hochschule Niederrhein convinced with a fashion show not only the NRW State Father Armin Laschet, but also the representatives of the Bundespresseball GmbH and one of this year's partners, the Gesamtverband textil+mode.

The interdisciplinary design project Textile ArchiSkulptur (2018/19), initiated by Prof. Dr. Marina Wachs, aims to make the textile cultural heritage in North Rhine-Westphalia visible and to concretize its sustainable (inter-)cultural value. Furthermore, it aims to connect with textile expertise in Europe and in the transfer of characteristics of these special places of the textile, design patterns and parameters in fashion and textile design and architecture, for future textile (digital) sustainable worlds.
Each student does this as a "design driver" with a very individual handwriting, with a special identification to the textile.

"The beauty in design - aesthetics and functions caused by combining analogue with digital processing".

"BLUE is the new GREEN of the sustainability debate in design" (Wachs).

This thesis was the prelude to the new interdisciplinary topic that is being targeted at the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology within research papers, theses and term papers.

This publication documents a selection of outstanding artistic and engineering case studies which were completed as part of several high-level BA and MA student projects by the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology at the Hochschule Niederrhein (University of Applied Sciences), Mönchengladbach, Germany. The results of the projects and research evidence the extensive range of creative potential, scope of technical design, compliance with sustainability demands as well as the success of combined engineering solutions. They also show the excellent standard of interdisciplinary networking between the teaching staff in various scientific and design disciplines as well as with partners from the industry in the Lower Rhine region, Europe and beyond.
The design and management concepts and works of art focus on the following topics: Textile Technology, Art of Textiles, New Interior Solutions, Textile Industry 4.0, Sustainable Design Concepts, Design Transfer, Female Statements and Smart Future.
Presentation of the projects is supplemented by statements of the teaching staff, as well as by reports of external great experts and journalists.

We invite you to accompany us on a journey through the creative, innovative, smart, sustainable world of textile design research and (T)experiments of the future.

Prof. Dipl.-Des. Ellen Bendt
Prof. Dr. Dipl.-Des. Marina-Elena Wachs

The interdisciplinary project "The German Look - advanced TEXTILE solutions", which will be presented in 2015, will show a collection of several BA- and MA-student projects and research works of Master students - with the help of 6 categories: Smart Textiles and Mobility in Fashion, Luxury and Sustainability, Design concepts...for a better world, Textile Porcelain, Smart mobility to go, Kids world.

Within the Wool School project of the Campaign for Wool, 11 master students of the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology of the Hochschule Niederrhein in Mönchengladbach, under the guidance of Prof. Ellen Bendt - Professor of Fashion Design with a specialisation in knitwear and innovative product design - and Prof. Dr. Marina-Elena Wachs - Professor of Design Theory - created wonderful outfits in white wool on the topic of sustainable virgin wool.

The importance of sustainability has a long tradition at our Hochschule Niederrhein, especially at the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology. Many studies, research and theses in all Bachelor's and Master's Degree programmes of the faculty, which is strongly influenced by textiles, are dedicated to this topic from the special perspective of the textile and clothing industry.