A trend towards sustainability, and community mindedness in design, is behind a collaboration between RMIT interior and industrial design students and The Social Studio as part of the State of Design festival. The pop-up retail concept, to be held in the Lonsdale bridge within Melbourne Central, will use customised bicycles to sell the designs made on site by students at The Social Studio.

“It’s quite significant that this quite major design project is looking at social impact, rather than just commercial success.  [The students] are thinking of ways as a designer that they can work with local communities,“ says Grace Mcquilton, the founder of The Social Studio, the fashion-training organisation in Collingwood that works with refugee communities.

The concept for the “peddle powered retail platform” was the brainchild of the RMIT design students, who then pitched their ideas to The Social Studio. From the twenty concepts put forward, two prototypes for the transformable bike kiosks have been developed. A fashion parade for The Social Studio’s latest collections will also be held as part of the retail installation.

“We were after something fun, eye-catching, something that would be easy to move and set up,” says Mcquilton.

One goal of the project is to further develop the pop-up retail concept, and turn a one off event into a regular retail experience.

A proposal for pop-up stores selling designs from The Social Studio to trundle the streets of Melbourne up to five times a week has already been put to the Melbourne Council. Other plans for the studio include stocking their product in other stores and building their links to other Melbourne retail precincts such as Melbourne Central.
Mcquilton also hopes that the project will further develop job opportunities within the communities that the studio works with.

“The idea is that each cart will create a new job in retail for one of our retail trainees. We want to continue to expand our training and employment opportunities,” she says. 

Since The Social Studio first opened its doors in September, nine students have completed their certificate two in fashion through the studio’s partnership with the RMIT fashion school in Brunswick, and onto certificate three. Four students have recently completed paid work experience with fashion label, Marianna Hardwick, and shops such as Hunter Gatherer stock some of the studio’s designs.

Fashion, as shown by the vibrant hub that is the colourful Social Studio, can be empowering.

“Fashion is something that cuts across age, across gender, across demographics, financial restraints and cultures,” says Mcquilton.

“It’s also a really powerful way to express yourself and your own sense of cultural identity and belonging which is important to the communities that we’re working with.”

A gala fashion parade will be held at 6:30pm on Friday July 16.
Exhibition, level 1 bridge, above Lonsdale Street, Level 1 & 2 Melbourne Central, cnr Latrobe Street and Swanston Street, Melbourne July 14-24.
thesocialstudio.org stateofdesign.com.au

Photos: Nicole Reed