When art, fashion, sustainability and international cooperation come together, the result can be transformative. Examples include a workshop on sustainability by Portuguese artist Cláudia Nair Oliveira at the AMD Academy of Fashion & Design in Düsseldorf, the recycling of carnival costumes in cooperation with SE-HUB Ghana, and an EU project to develop an open-source and free digital platform for the fashion and cultural heritage industry. For all three projects, the academy utilised the support of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), which also includes the NRW.Europa team at ZENIT.

The collaboration with AMD, the Design Department at Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, one of the largest private universities in Germany, began with a workshop by Cláudia Nair Oliveira, who is known for her doll brand Marias Paperdolls. One of the artist's central missions is to combine environmental awareness with artistic expression. Inspired by Portuguese traditions, she began making dolls from recycled newspapers and magazines. Each doll is unique, carefully handcrafted and the result of intensive research into the stories and symbolism behind each figure.

Workshop: Disturbing Truths
The workshop was organised by the Portuguese EEN partner AEP – Associação Empresarial de Portugal and the NRW.Europa team at ZENIT, which coordinated with the AMD Academy of Fashion & Design. During the multi-day workshop in Düsseldorf, the artist focused on her project ‘Inquietações’ (translated: ‘disturbing truths’) (video about the project). By making masks, the students were invited to explore the topic of sustainability and the social dimension of waste. They were encouraged to rethink the life cycle of materials, reflect on their creative process and view waste as a source of transformation and inspiration. The result was a lively, hands-on experience that enabled both the artist and the students to uncover ‘disturbing truths’ about consumption and sustainability.

‘The workshop was a perfect fit for our sustainability programme. Conserving resources and promoting creativity are part of our DNA, so to speak.’ Claudia Ebert-Hesse, Dean of Studies in the Design Department at the AMD Academy of Fashion & Design

‘I can only thank the EEN. Working with such creative, unconventional young people who are committed to a sustainable future for our planet made this a wonderful experience that I can hardly put into words.’ Cláudia Nair Oliveira, Managing Director of Marias Paperdolls

NRW.Europa support for sustainability projects
The workshop is just one of several activities in which AMD is collaborating with the NRW.Europa team. At the beginning of 2025, it enlisted the support of NRW.Europa and the creative.nrw network to establish a partnership with Takoradi Technical University in western Ghana. The Social Entrepreneurship Hub Ghana, which is in contact with both networks through its NRW representative, acted as the central link between the university in Ghana and AMD and is acting as an industry partner in the project. The project focuses on recycling carnival costumes, thousands of which are discarded during the traditional annual Ankos Festival.

Support was also provided for an EU project submitted in May 2025. The aim is to provide an open-source and free digital platform for the fashion and cultural heritage industry that enables collaboration and exchange in the creation of fashion that uses sustainable textiles and connects a common European democratic tradition. Partners include stakeholders from Spain, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia and Ukraine. The NRW.Europa team supported AMD in finding project partners from Ukraine and Spain, in conducting market research on textile techniques in Europe and in advising on the application process.

‘We had not been involved in EU projects before. This project is our entry into European project funding, which we would have found difficult to achieve without the support of the NRW.Europa team. Now we are hoping for a positive decision.’ Claudia Ebert-Hesse, Dean of Studies in the Design Department at the AMD Academy of Fashion & Design

Further Information: 
Linkedin-Post SE-HUB Ghana von Ende Juli 2025

Foto Source: Workshop Cláudia Nair Oliveira

Contact to the Enterprise: 
AMD Akademie Mode & Design https://www.amdnet.de/
Site Düsseldorf

Contact to the NRW.Europa-Team:

ZENIT GmbH / Enterprise Europe Network
für Nordrhein-Westfalen NRW.Europa 
Ekaterina Karpushenkova
Telefon: ++49 208 30004-0
E-Mail: Ekaterina.Karpushenkova@zenit.eu

Source: among others Enterprise Europe Network Sector Group Cultural & Creative Industries

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