JUDGES AND MENTORS
Youth Eco Summit 2019 Judges
We have scoured both the fashion and recycling sectors for innovators whose ingenuity, craft skills and commitment to sustainability set an inspiring example to our WASTE NOT Trashionistas.
Our judges
Our heavyweight judging panels include the trashion queen and activist/artist Marina DeBris, veteran environment advocate Jeff Angel, the CEO of Reverse Garbage Naomi Brennan, Bradley Waters from the Australian Fashion Council, Camille Reed the director of the Australian Circular Fashion Conference, and Francis Pascua the marketing manager from G-Star Raw.
Our mentors
Paul Castro, a world class couturier completely dedicated to eliminating waste from his own design practice, has provided invaluable feedback to our Trashionistas during the design phase. Our other awesome Trashion mentors include Grace Lillian Lee, internationally renowned for integrating her indigenous heritage into living sculptures worn on the body. Angela van Boxtel, an artist famous for knitting weaving and crocheting disposable plastic, and designer Pirra Griffiths who started her own sustainable swimwear label before moving to Dharma Bums yoga activewear.
2018 / 2019 Judge
Jeff Angel
Director, Total Environment Centre, Boomerang Alliance
Jeff Angel is Director of the Boomerang Alliance of 47 allied groups and Total Environment Centre. He has worked for policy, business and legal changes across a wide spectrum of environmental issues (city and country) for over 40 years including protection of rainforests and wilderness, air quality, urban river regeneration, Sydney’s Green Games, land clearing, endangered species and climate change. He has been prominent in debates about waste and recycling and led the campaign for the introduction of a container deposit system in Australia.
2018 / 2019 Judge
Marina DeBris
Plastic Activist and Artist
Great to see the enthusiasm of the students and they really did a top job putting the performances together.
Sydney based artist Marina DeBris began picking up trash along Los Angeles’ beaches and creeks over a dozen years. Her mission began when she moved from Bondi Beach to the Westside of Los Angeles.
“In the beginning I would just pick up stacks of Styrofoam cups and bring them to the local 7-11, but I soon realized that this wasn’t really attacking the root problem. I needed a creative way to draw attention to it. The whole idea of making beach detritus into art began in 2009 with the realization that the waste we create always comes back to haunt us.”
2018 Mentor / 2019 Judge & Mentor
Pirra Griffiths
Designer - Dharma Bums Yoga Wear, Owner and Designer - Allerton Swimwear, Fashion Lecturer - Billy Blue College of Design
It was an absolute pleasure! I'd love to be even more involved next year - so thrilled to be part of the event.
Renowned for her sporty yet feminine approach, designer Pirra Griffiths is passionate about creating impeccably designed garments that work with the body, creating beautiful lines and celebrating curves.
Launched at Miami Swim Week in 2015, her Sydney based swimwear label Allerton was nominated WGSN Best Fashion Start Up 2016. With a focus on fit and adjustability, Allerton is distributed internationally by major retailers in the UK, USA and NZ and has featured in Italian Vogue, Russian Elle, Daily Mail UK, GQ Magazine, Daily Telegraph and Cosmopolitan Australia. Pirra’s swimwear has been seen on Victoria Secret Model Cindy Bruna, Mame Adjei and Bikini A Day creators Tash Oakley and Devin Brugman.
2018 Judge
Camille Reed
Director of the Circular Fashion Conference
Truly congrats on the fantastic event, and great vibe! And best wishes for taking it forward - bigger and better as they say!
As one of Australia’s most talented and recognised textile design artists, and as a passionate advisor on circular textile innovation, Camille Reed is highly sought after for her textile design expertise and sustainability involvement within the fashion industry. Her exclusive designs have been featured by some of Australia’s largest retail brands, and also by some of the biggest international high street brands in the US, UK and Europe.
2018 Judge
Laura Wells
Model, Environmentalist
Laura Wells is an Environmentalist, presenter and one of Australia’s top plus size models. Holding degrees in both Biology and Law, qualifications in Environmental management systems and currently studying a Diploma of Paramedical Science, Laura’s passion for the environment, love for the ocean and interest in climate change has lead her to become a positive role model, advocate and ambassador for change.
2019 Judge
Bradley Waters
Senior Project Manager, Australian Fashion Council
Bradley Waters is a Senior Project Manager at the Australian Fashion Council, a not-for-profit membership organisation that exists to promote the growth of the textile & fashion industry in Australia. With a focus on strategic partnerships and key international relationships, his role is to work alongside the AFC’s stakeholders to deliver an innovative and sustainable future for the Australian fashion & textile industry.
2019 Judge
Naomi Brennan
CEO, Reverse Garbage
“When I started in my previous CEO role at My Gateway 16 years ago, it was a small, fairly marginal not-for-profit organisation. Over the years, we made an important shift in focus towards being ‘not-for-loss’. This empowered us to extend the capacity of the organisation, which meant we could achieve more of the good work we did in employing young people in skill shortage trades. In time, we were able to invest in critical infrastructure to ensure a robust future and My Gateway is now a strong organisation based in Campbelltown with a healthy surplus,” said Naomi.
“At Reverse Garbage, I will focus on identifying the strengths we need to grow and the weaknesses we need to diminish. Reverse Garbage is a fantastic organisation with passionate supporters and customers which gives us a fantastic base to build on.”
2019 Mentor
Paul Castro
Designer, Mentor, Curator
I felt very privileged to be part of this project. Your students are lucky to have such wonderful and passionate teachers!
Paul Castro is a designer whose fashion experience spans his native Ecuador, Canada, and The Bahamas. Since 2005, he has made Australia his home, pursuing a Masters of Fashion (Design) at RMIT in Melbourne where he now teaches.
We were truly honoured to bring Paul into the Mash It Up! circle of creativity and passion for the planet. His gentle manner and quick brain made it easy for students at Nepean to talk over their sketches and concepts with him. With their teachers they’d already studied Paul’s award wining signature collection Amassment.
2019 Mentor
Grace Lillian Lee
Designer, Mentor, Curator, Artist
It was an absolute pleasure! I'd love to be even more involved next year - so thrilled to be part of the event.
A unique mix of European, Asian and Torres Strait Islander ancestry, there is no one in the world like Grace Lillian Lee! Her sinuous playful work has evolved from traditional weaving methods using grass into complex full body sculptures worn for performance and runway and collected as art by major galleries and institutions.
We first discovered Grace at the Sherman Centre for Culture & Ideas’ annual Fashion Hub 2019. The Cairns-based artist generously agreed to squeeze some workshops with our schools between appointments in Darwin, Kunnunurra and Beijing!
2018 / 2019 Mentor
Angela Van Boxtel
Eco Artist
Thank you so much for the amazing project you have pulled off. I was in awe of what was created and so happy to be part of it.
Angela van Boxtel is a Northern Beaches based eco artist who specialises in using old school techniques like weaving, crochet and knitting, to modernise and upcycle waste materials into fabulous swimwear, accessories and furnishings.
Her playful projects and workshops show just how much fun it is change the way you look at the world – for her everything is a resource, whether it’s a bit of old string or a plastic bag that should be kept out of the ocean.
2018 Mentor
Imogen Ross
Designer, Educator, Upcycler, Creative Consultant
Wonderful to see what the students and their teachers had created and very interesting to see how the design brief was interpreted with quite different results.
Imogen has designed a wide range of theatre, public events, commercial interiors, weddings and themed parties in both Australia and the UK for over 25 years.
She has designed many award-winning productions (including shows that have toured both nationally and internationally); most notably with Monkey Baa Theatre, Merrigong, Shopfront, Darlinghurst Theatre Co., Blacktown Arts Centre, CDP and PYT.
Her passion is the creative reuse of found objects, using a range of sculptural and collage techniques to re-purpose and re-imagine ‘trash’ to ‘treasure’. In 2016 she was in residency in Deniliquin, working as an art instigator with youth and community to create roving sculptures made from found rubbish, culminating in a giant sculptural installation called Echidna.
