You know the feeling when the year is almost over and you feel like you haven't done enough? The end of 2023 had that for me. 2023 was a challenging year. The second half of 2022 and all of 2023 were a time of both personal and business transformation. If you live self-consciously, like me, you will recognise patterns that largely influence how you live your life and how you do business. Once in a while, I have to hit the brakes and see if I am still on the right track and make adjustments. And sometimes you brake too late and crash into something. That was kind of what happened to me in the ..read more

  How to get the most value for money Starting brands are often intimidated by design costs. They want something unique that fits their brand perfectly and that nobody else has. They have prepared for production costs, but sometimes expect design to be a small expense. When it comes to surface design, the investment can vary depending on the project's complexity and the designer's experience.  What determines the price  The price of surface design is determined by the time it takes to create the design, the designer's experience, the project's complexity, and the way you plan ..read more

This year I took part in the fashion residency Taskforce Fashion 2020. Taskforce Fashion started in 2018, as a unique, multidisciplinary and research-based collaboration between fashion platforms FASHIONCLASH, M-ODE and State of Fashion, commissioned by and in close collaboration with the Creative Industries Fund NL. In co-creation with Dutch design talent and in dialogue with the (inter)national fashion field and other disciplines, the three platforms investigate the transformative role of fashion in relation to social issues with various experiments. Taskforce Fashion – Residency for Res ..read more

  My series of Chromarama tapestries received a Dezeen Awards 2021 nomination for Best Homeware Design. Chromarama also won 3rd place in the Dezeen Awards 2021 public vote. Chromarama launch exhibition at De Wasserij in Rotterdam  © Roza Schous Chromarama Chromarama is a series of five woven tapestries specially designed for different forms of colour blindness, while equally appealing to those with full colour vision. The aim of Chromarama is to address the neglected role of visual limitations in design. Within the design field and design education there is little knowledg ..read more

  Ever since the invention of the bra, which was a revolution in itself, designers and industry have tried to design the perfect fit for all sizes. Something that many agree has not been accomplished yet, and perhaps never will, because everyone has different needs. Every now and again a new brand emerges from the need of women to feel better supported beneath their clothes. Introducing Soft Revolt, the latest brand to start a bra revolution. Over a year ago I met the founder of Soft Revolt, Elles Roeleveld, at a Circular Textiles seminar in Amsterdam. We took part in the same workshop ..read more

I consider myself a Japanophile. In 2018 I visited Japan for the first time after years of anticipation. I had finally found the perfect travel companion in my boyfriend - who is just as positively obsessed with Japan as I am - since I’m not one to travel solo, unless it’s for work purposes. In the first week we arrived we already agreed that after this trip we would come back to Japan as soon as we could. And this year we made it back, in March, right in the middle of the global COVID-19 outbreak. We hesitated for a long time if we should travel at all, but the situation in Japan seemed fair ..read more

Virtual Design Festival is the world's first online design festival, taking place from 15 April to 30 June 2020. With much of the world in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the global architecture and design community is facing unprecedented challenges. Virtual Design Festival is a platform exploring alternative ways of sharing design, helping others, coming together as a global community and doing business. With Milan Design Week 2020 first postponed and then cancelled, many designers and brands found themselves wihout a stage to present their months of hard work, including us ..read more

Nobody - is a photo series inspired by the Rotterdam street scene at the time of the corona crisis. A time when the city comes to a standstill, social interaction is replaced by distance and empty streets. The absence of man is embodied by only showing the garment in the serene, quiet streets. Nobody is a collaboration between residents of De Wasserij, the hub for innovative fashion in Rotterdam with fashion entrepreneurs like designers, stylists and photographer who regularly collaborate and use eachothers expertise. The idea for "Nobody" emerged while many residents found themselves in the ..read more

Despite technological advances in new materials, design processes, artificial intelligence, 3D-printing, miniaturized electronics and design software, changes in the fashion industry and everyday apparel have not been as significant as we might expect. Should the fashion industry embrace any of these innovations, its system could change completely within only one or two seasons. This book shows what the future of fashion could look like, according to designers, scientists, industry professionals and theorists in the fashion tech field. It unites their different perspectives on the c ..read more

In September Kukka moved to a new studio space, in "De Wasserij" builing in Rotterdam. De Wasserij (the laundromat) is the new hub for innovative fashion professionals. This new breeding ground is located in the old laundromat factory building of the former Bergweg Hospital. For the past two years the building is transformed into studio spaces and a textile lab makerspace and the opening is celebrated with a fashion festival. our new studio space in De Wasserij The Getting Closer Fashion Festival is all about the love, time and craftmanship that goes into making fashion. In a weekend full ..read more