My goal for my time at university was to lay the foundations for an entrepreneurial career in fashion. I wanted to bring together the creative work of design with the marketing and business skills I would need, as well as defining the niche I wanted to work in. I’ve found that niche – biomaterials - and am now the founder of Uncommon Alchemy, a company creating innovative, highly sustainable materials for fashion. My work over the last two years of my degree has been in developing a seaweed-based alternative to animal leather or PU faux leathers.
In 2020, I won a Young Innovators award from Innovate UK and KTN to develop the business and bring this material to market. My final major project was focused around the marketing of this material, using interactive digital storytelling to engage consumers with an unfamiliar material and get them as excited about the possibilities of biomaterials as I am. anna@uncommon-alchemy.co.uk