Recently some of our postgraduate students had the opportunity to attend a study trip to Stockholm

The first stop on the trip was the H&M headquarters, where the group received a talk about the various job roles available at the organisation for graduates. They were then given a tour of the building, and were shown the archive of vintage clothing that they company uses for inspiration and the ‘White Room’ – an open space for displaying the season’s key trends/inspirations/colours/fabrics for the designers to refer to. They were also taken to the pattern cutting and sampling department, where in-house machinists and pattern cutters start the sampling proves, and where one-off pieces for celebrities are made.

The trip also took them to a number of museums including the National Museum of Sweden, where as well as seeing the classical art collection the students enjoyed the Scandinavian Design Exhibition including contemporary fashion pieces related to recycling and re-using. They also visited Fotografiska – the museum of photography, where they saw an exhibition entitled Wonderland, a collection of photographs by Kirsty Mitchell, inspired by the stories her mother shared with her throughout her childhood. Finally, they visited the ABBA museum, which held an extensive collection of original costumes worn by the group throughout the tours and TV appearances around the world. The exhibitions were brought to life by the videos of the group and the designer reflecting on the construction of, and reaction to, the costumes.

Niamh Carr, who attended the trip, said, “Visiting Stockholm was such a valuable insight into Swedish design and culture, it was such an inspiring place to be. Visiting the design and photography museum and taking in the architecture has been the source of huge inspiration for my final major project. We had a good chunk of time there so we could stay as a group but also go and pursue our individual interests in the city.”