Sustainability and Creativity

Creativity, problem-solving, sustainability and wellbeing are important principles guiding innovation in curriculum and approaches to learning at Marsden. Year 10 Fashion Designers work sustainably with fabric and alternative materials. 

This year girls connected with local entrepreneur Bernadette Casey, founder of the Formary, an innovative New Zealand business that established the Textile Reuse project.

Learning from a design and business expert inspired Year 10 student Amy and her international classmate Minkyung to collaborate on designing a hanbok, using packaging from Bluebird chips to Watties Beanz to sew New Zealand flavours into their traditional Korean dress. The hanbok is made from three main pieces, the under skirt, made from newspaper; the main skirt, which they sewed plastic packaging onto a plain large sheet of white fabric; and lastly the jacket, which they made from white and black fabric then they sewed packaging and ribbon onto it. This fantastic cross-cultural learning opportunity enabled the girls to deliver a sustainability message with fun and creative flair.

News of Amy and Minkyung's environment-friendly wearable art has even gone international with it featuring in Seoul on the New Zealand Embassy's Facebook page. 

At Marsden we are proud of learning outcomes that foster creativity, harness essential social and emotional skills and connect students with the community.