Success Stories

María Voth Velasco

María Voth Velasco is a designer who grew up in Seville, Spain. She then lived in several cities in Germany and The Netherlands and is now based in Aachen, Germany; she finds this place useful as it is on the border and she can easily make connections “crossing over countries”. María graduated in Body Design at the Maastricht Institute of Arts in 2020 and started her own label ‘Turtlehorn’ where she aims to work with textile waste materials. She wishes to think ecologically by working with these materials that are not bad for the environment or for the workers in any way. “If I don’t use raw materials, I make new ones from waste materials, which can be very precious. With this, I address, use and repair, consume and reuse”.

María sees fashion as a tool to express herself on important societal issues such as gender roles and sustainability: that’s why she considers herself as a social designer. Furthermore, she considers it as a way to help people and represent the values she holds dear to her heart. “I’m not only addressing to the problems within the fashion branch, but also setting value on the people of our society: everyone is free to wear what they want without being judged or (miss)gendered. Fashion is like art with freedom of expression with the celebration of unique and creative styles.” She is inspired by social action, old handcrafts, urban nature, animal prints, but also by everything related to street art and underground subculture such as graffiti, rap scene and skateboarding.

Her involvement with FASHIONCLASH started in June 2017 when she took part in the exhibition ‘Red dresses and red wine’. In the same month, she had the opportunity to show a conceptual performance during the FASHIONCLASH Festival opening named ‘Prestimulus’ as part of the opening of the Forza Fashion House. In the course of the pandemic crisis, she participated into the ‘Digital Door Sale’, together with other local designers. In 2021, during the digital edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival, she showed her graduation collection. She considers it as one of the highlights of her career as she could show that a collection can be totally sustainable and “made out of local cotton or waste materials”. She mentions how FASHIONCLASH has helped her to make contacts with professionals, grow as an artist, learn new things and get valuable advice as well. “The FASHIONCLASH Festival and events helped me very much in positioning myself and the brand in the fashion field and connecting with diverse professionals.”

She chooses to be hopeful for the future and wishes for world peace and in addition, a green business model. “It may sound utopic, but I am working every day on it and I see that the world is changing and people are getting more conscious and engaged. So, we have good chances for the future.”

María Voth Velasco will take part at the 13th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival.