Society for Textile and Fashion Design (SOTO)

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SOTO, Društvo za sodobno oblikovanje tekstilij in oblačil

Hacquetova 16, SI-1000 Ljubljana

sotosociety@gmail.com

Phone386 (0) 1 437 4102

The Society for Textile and Fashion Design (SOTO) is an association connecting several contemporary Slovenian fashion designers. Established in 2004, it strives to promote its members' work and to develop the Slovenian textiles and clothing design culture in general. SOTO regularly presents its projects at referential international stages, organises selling exhibitions and sets up fashion shows.

The spiritus agens of the association is the costumes and clothes designer Sanja Grcić, also head of the internationally renowned fashion brand Firma. She frequently exhibits abroad, from New York and Chicago to Seoul and Helsinki.

Select projects

SOTO's first major project was the travelling exhibition Any Sharp Objects?. A joint venture by 19 Slovenian textile and fashion designers, it was shown in Arnheim and Zoetermeer (NL), Luxembourg (LU), Chicago and New York (US), Ljubljana (SI), Sarajevo (BA), Berlin (DE), Helsinki (FI) and Athens (GR) between 2005–2007. The name and concept of the project were based on the question asked by airport officials when checking one's hand luggage. Accordingly, the exhibition presented bags and cases that elaborated on this theme. SOTO collaborated with Študentska zalozba Publishing House (today's Beletrina) to publish an eponymous catalogue to accompany the exhibition and with RTV Slovenia in the production of an eponymous TV show. The whole enterprise was co-produced by the Projekt Atol Institute.

In 2007, SOTO conceived Family Ties, a display that merged contemporary fashion trends with the rich national clothing tradition of Slovenia. Shown at the International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Family Ties featured almost one hundred of the most notable Slovenian clothes and accessory designers, shoemakers, and other craftspersons.

In 2010, SOTO (together with the Biennial of Design (BIO)) organised the exhibition Direction South-Southeast. A heterogeneous selection of some of the best fashion designers from Southern and Eastern Europe was invited to present their work. Two awards were also bestowed, the main one went to the Croatian fashion initiative I-GLE. In 2012, this project was upgraded with a series of monthly residencies for designers from this same region.

Made in Slovenija is yet another project that ventured abroad. Some of the best Slovenian clothes, accessories and textile designers participated, namely Almira Sadar, Nataša Peršuh, Neli Štrukelj, Arijana Gadžijev, Petja Zorec, Urška Draž, Tomaž Draž and Sanja Grcić. The guiding principle was that of dismantling and reconstructing clothes and designs from the past (Idrija lace being a prominent example) with a contemporary touch. In 2015, the exhibition was hosted in Prague (CZ), Vienna (AT) and Ljubljana (SI).

Awards

The association received the Trend Award for fashion design in 2005, the international K&O Award at the Design Assembly 2010 in Graz (AT) and the Elle Style Awards 2016 by Škoda.

See also

• Biennial of Design (BIO)
• Projekt Atol Institute
• Month of Design
• Department of Textiles, University of Ljubljana

External links

• Sanja Grcić personal website
• An article about Any Sharp Objects? on MMC RTV (in Slovene)
• An article about the Made in Slovenija exhibition (in Slovene)
• A blog post about the Made in Slovenija exhibition (in Italian)
• A blog post about the Direction South-Southeast exhibition