Stella McCartney × Lenovo: Empowering future fashion innovators at CSM
We collaborated with world-leading technology pioneers Lenovo and Stella’s alma mater Central Saint Martins, inspiring 38 students from its MA Design course to channel their desire to change the world for the better and apply their creativity in an eight-week live brief.
We tasked these next-gen creatives to explore the relationship between fashion and technology and create a sustainable solution that pushes the boundaries of where they intersect. To help the students unlock their creativity, Lenovo provided cutting-edge Yoga PCs to each student who took part.
From e-waste jewellery to acoustic panelling made from mycelium, our four finalists championed important, meaningful causes through extraordinary futuristic designs.
Together with Lenovo, we are proud to crown Peter Nasielski the winner of our Eco Design Competition and the recipient of a three-month paid internship at our Stella McCartney headquarters in London, in a department of his choice, as well as at Lenovo HQ in North Carolina.
The three other finalists have also been offered a placement at Lenovo HQ.
To celebrate Peter’s winning innovative eyewear designs, made from regenerative algae seaweed, we invited our Stella friends and Central Saint Martins’ students and faculty to an exclusive event at our 23 Old Bond Street flagship in London.
I was truly blown away by each of the finalists' presentations and it was so hard to pick a winner; I was so inspired by the level of creativity and innovation.
Supporting regenerative agriculture and circularity, we are embracing new business models that will transform how clothes are sourced, produced, sold, shared, repaired and reused, promoting long-lasting products with extended use to reduce environmental impact:
“I chose Peter as my winner not only because his regenerative kelp and algae farming project touches on something we are already looking into, but it also seems the most viable as a material innovation for both my team and Lenovo. Algae is a renewable resource and doesn't rely on us producing more waste. It directly fights the climate crisis and, thinking beyond the environmental benefits, can also involve local communicates that harvest it.
I really want to continue this conversation and help to make some of their creations a reality because I see a lot of viable solutions in what I was presented. I am so inspired by and honoured to support this next generation of innovation!” says Stella.
Our Finalists
WINNER: 'A Vision of Our Algal Future’ by Peter Nasielski
Peter’s winning project explores regenerative kelp farming and its untapped potential in the accessories industry. He was inspired by kelp’s natural properties and how the plant can be used to create bioplastics, experimenting with the material to create and present eyewear design prototypes.
FINALIST: ‘Rewilding Packaging’ by Estelle Burton
Estelle’s project focused on product packaging in the luxury market, investigating how packaging could be better designed in order to reduce waste. Her project explored how improving biodiversity through rewilding could be incorporated into Stella’s existing packaging.
FINALIST: ‘Unwrapped and Rewrapped’ by Vrinda Agrawal
In her ‘Unwrapped and Rewrapped’ project, Vrinda explores the potential of repurposing and regenerating crisp packet waste for other innovative materials. She was initially inspired for her project because of the number of animals that die or are injured because they consume plastic waste. She experimented with different ways of manipulating and crafting the waste material to create new forms.
I am so excited to have been chosen as the winner of the sustainable fashion design project, supported by both Stella McCartney and Lenovo. Throughout these eight weeks, I have been challenged and empowered to think outside the box and, as a result, I have created something that aims to inspire and make change in the fashion industry.