Creative Fellowship Award 2024
Explore the wonder of textile craftsmanship with the TextileSeekers Fellowship Award 2024. This unique opportunity invites one creative individual to embark on a 6-day adventure to Mai Chau, Vietnam, delving into the world of indigenous textile traditions, slow fashion, and cultural heritage.
What is the TextileSeekers Fellowship Award?
The TextileSeekers Fellowship Award 2024 is a collaboration between TextileSeekers and The Lissome Magazine, originating from our shared passion and appreciation of textile crafts and traditions. In 2022, we featured TextileSeekers’ founder Thao Phuong in an interview and photo essay to highlight her inspiring work. And this year, we are collaborating again to celebrate the launch of our The Lissome Membership subscription – and all members get the chance to win a coveted spot on the TextileSeekers March 2024 retreat in Vietnam.
The prize was awarded for the first time last year and is being held for the second time this year, granting one successful applicant the opportunity to participate in the March 2024 travel experience and learn from Indigenous textile artists and master artisans in Mai Chau, Vietnam.
What is the TextileSeekers experience?
TextileSeekers is a slow creative retreat company that offers participants the opportunity to build connections with communities, interact with artists and craftspeople, and study ancient textile techniques. Each journey is organised as a slow travel experience filled with art, design, fashion and the discovery of new places. Every experience opens doors into colourful destinations and allows explorers to tip-toe into a world of crafts and culture while embracing the beauty of traveling solo. We define what luxury truly means – having the time to be still and to enjoy every moment life brings. We gently inspire our participants to find the courage to listen to their hearts and evolve as an individual. We aspire to live well and with authenticity.
Who is Thao, the founder of TextileSeekers?
The founder of TextileSeekers, Thao Phuong, has close to two decades of experience in the fashion industry. After having seen the effects of fast fashion on the environment as well as on indigenous communities, the issue of sustainability in fashion is close to her heart. After a trip to Vietnam, the home country of her parents, and getting to know the hill tribes in Sa Pa, she founded TextileSeekers to highlight the importance of preserving ancestral textile traditions. TextileSeekers is the embodiment of Thao’s dream – to introduce the concept of slow fashion, celebrate craftsmanship, give back to creative local communities and actively contribute to changing the status quo of the currently unsustainable fast fashion world.
What is included in the Fellowship Award?
The prize grants one successful applicant to take part in the 6-day travel and workshop program (regular price US$ 2100).
Note: The travel costs to and from Hanoi, Vietnam and additional meals need to be covered by the winner themselves.
The fellowship prize includes the following offerings:
Accommodation, food and transport:
– Hanoi accommodation: 2x nights in a boutique hotel
– Mai Chau accommodation: 3x nights at the luxury Avana Retreat
– Breakfast is included with your hotel accommodation
– Lunch is included during most workshops, featuring local dishes made with seasonal ingredients, with vegan and vegetarian options available
– Farewell complimentary dinner
– Overland transportation in a private comfortable air-conditioned 16 seater car commencing from and concluding in Hanoi, including entrance fees into villages at Mai Chau.
Workshops, materials and entrance fees:
– Workshops, demonstrations and all materials are included for batik, indigo and natural dyeing, embellishment, weaving, applique and embroidery, bamboo basket weaving
– Morning meditation classes: 3x sessions at the lodge
– Tickets and entrance fees into museums, with optional audio or guides
How can you apply?
The Creative Fellowship Award is aimed at creatives (designers, makers, artists and artisans) as well as researchers and entrepreneurs, who are passionate about textile crafts, techniques and traditions.
The aim of the fellowship is to further and support the applicant’s work in the spheres of textiles and craft preservation, may it be for a personal project or research-based.
Note: Due to the nature of the travel experience, the fellowship is currently only open to women (we are sharing rooms and visiting women-based communities).
Application deadline: December 1, 2023
Application Process:
Step 1: The application for the Creative Fellowship Award is a special gift for our members. In order to apply, you first need to sign up for one of our yearly membership plans of our newly-launched The Lissome membership programme: www.thelissome.com/membership
Note: All members qualify for a 10% discount for the TextileSeekers experience – please reach out and we’ll share the discount booking code.
Step 2: Please fill in and submit the application form.
(deadline December 1, 2023).
Apart from your contact details, we’d like you to answer some questions about your sphere of work and how it relates to textiles, and submit a link to your portfolio, research or CV.
If there is any problem filling in the form, please reach out to sandrine@thelissome.com.
Step 3: A video call with Thao will be arranged with the top finalists so that you can meet her to talk about your application and answer all your questions.
Members of the jury:
Thao Phuong, founder of TextileSeekers
Dörte de Jesus, founder of The Lissome
Nishanth Chopra, founder of Ōshadi
Paula Delgado, founder of ound
Katherina Marie Herold, Heroldian Art Concepts
Katie Kolodinski, creative director & founder of Silk Laundry + Project 166
Mila Moisio, editor-in-chief of TAUKO
Thea Caroline Sneve Løvstad, photographer
Jury guidelines:
The applicant will be selected based on their vision and the positive impact of their work (past or future) in the realm of textiles, and craft preservation.
Requirement from the winner:
To help grow the community of TextileSeekers, we would ask you to share your travel experience in form of a photo story essay a week after your return.
Further travel details:
Travel dates & locations:
The 6-day program will take place in Hanoi and Mai Chau, Vietnam and starts on March 18th 2024.
Group size & participants:
The program is open for eight participants (including the Creative Fellowship placement) and is designed for a varied group of people. It is suitable for creatives, artists, textile lovers, purpose seekers, entrepreneurs – open-minded travellers who are curious and look for authentic connections.
Travel & workshop schedule:
You can find detailed information of all daily activities here.
Please reach out if you have any further questions, we are happy to help!
For further questions about the fellowship and the TextileSeekers experience, you can email Thao via hello@textileseekers.com.
For further questions about The Lissome membership programme, you can email Sandrine via sandrine@thelissome.com.
Note: All members qualify for a 10% discount for the TextileSeekers experience – please reach out and we’ll share the discount booking code.
