Fresh Fish is an annual Swedish

fashion show A fashion show is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase their upcoming line of clothing and/or accessories during a fashion week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the spring/summer and fall/winter seasons. This is wh ...

and competition for unestablished designers, which takes place in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. The company Fresh Fish was founded in 2007 by Ali Davoodi with the idea of creating platforms for unestablished designers in the fields of culture, fashion, and design. Today, as well as the Fresh Fish fashion show, the Fresh Fish Gallery is a platform for new artists. Fresh Fish is also planning to further extend its work to other creative and cultural forms.

History

The idea behind Fresh Fish arose in 2005 when founder Ali Davoodi wanted to create a concept that focused on unestablished artists and designers from different genres. The purpose was to provide a platform for interaction between the culture and business worlds, as well as the general public. Fresh Fish is the overarching name for a wide range of ideas and operations, some of which are yet to be fully developed. The central idea is about providing a platform for and supporting unestablished designers and artists by using a number of different approaches. The fashion aspect of Fresh Fish was the idea that first took shape. This resulted in Fresh Fish arranging its first fashion show and competition in Exercishuset in

on the 5 and 6 May 2007. Since then, exhibitors from across Sweden have annually displayed their creations in the

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

accessories Accessory may refer to: * Accessory (legal term), a person who assists a criminal In anatomy * Accessory bone * Accessory breast * Accessory kidney * Accessory muscle * Accessory nucleus, in anatomy, a cranial nerve nucleus * Accessory nerve ...

, and

jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

categories. In 2009 the

moved to Eriksbergshallen and added a third day. From the start, the show has appointed winners for best design. A jury comprising experienced designers from both

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

and

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

select a winner each year during the closing

on the last day of the event. The previous winners of Fresh Fish are: * 2007 Sabina Bryntesson * 2008 Hanna Lindström * 2009 Anna Falck * 2010 Thorhildur Johannesdottir * 2011 Tamara Simonovic (Accessories/Jewelry) & Linda Stjärnehag (Clothes Design) * 2012 Sandra Lundblad & Carolina Baldal (Accessories/Jewelry) & Akharadet Ekchanok (Clothes Design) * 2013 Mike Årsjö (Accessories/Jewelry) & Carolina Rönnberg (Clothes Design) The first prize has included, among other things, some of the winner designer's creations being produced by and sold at one of Sweden's largest fashion stores. Among the companies that have participated with previous Fresh Fish winners are MQ and Nelly. Fresh Fish Gallery is so far the only other aspect of Fresh Fish to have become operational. Fresh Fish Gallery had its first

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

on 12 February 2009 at Stampgatan 9 in

with the artist Oscar Gard Montàn. Since then, Fredrik Åkum has exhibited his work and exhibitions from Johnny Roy and Malin Heikenberg are planned for later on in 2010.

Media

The media have followed Fresh Fish since its start in 2007. At the first

, the trees along Vasa Allén in

were clad in yellow skirts to draw attention to the new

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. This combined with the

itself contributed to a major breakthrough and Fresh Fish was conveyed in positive terms in the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

, for example the Gothenburg Post, the Metro, Manolo, and King. Each year, Fresh Fish has been portrayed in the

as something which filled a gap in the Swedish

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, and

world. In 2009 Fresh Fish won the Nöjesguiden (a Swedish entertainment guide) prize in the category ‘Form’, which is awarded to people or events that have had an extra special impact upon the city during the previous year.

International partners

In 2009 an international partnership began in conjunction with the Fresh Fish

. Fresh Fish worked with a group of young designers from

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, who were visiting Sweden with the Melnitsa Mody project. The purpose of the international focus is to promote new designers from abroad, as well as designers from within Sweden. The international aspect of Fresh Fish goes under the acronym NAGO (New Arrivals Gothenburg). Fresh Fish creates with NAGO an international forum where designers from different

and

cultures get the chance to exchange ideas and inspire each other. The international exhibitors at Fresh Fish

do not participate in the competition. In 2010 NAGO included a partnership with the fashion degree programme at

University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz The University of Art and Design Linz is one of four universities in Linz, Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, a ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Students from the university displayed their collections during the

and they had a separate showing each day and a stand where they displayed their work. Other countries that has been a part of NAGO are Finland (2011), France (2012) and Denmark (2013).

External links

The Fashion Fairs website

Sources

Article in the Gothenburg Post

Article in the Gothenburg Post

Article on SR.se

Article in Metro

Video on GP.se

Radiointerview on SR.se
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Video on SVT.se
Fairs in Sweden