For Amy Schijf, graduation is not about presenting a finished object, but about creating situations where people feel invited to participate. The 22-year-old Leisure & Events Management student moved from The Hague to Rotterdam at the start of her studies, drawn to the academy’s strong connection to the city and its creative communities: “I didn’t really know what I wanted to study yet,” she says. “I just knew I wanted something creative, somewhere with a lot of possibilities. The stations at the academy really attracted me, but studying fine art felt a bit too abstract for me at the time, while LEM felt more groundedand connected to people.”
That connection has become central to her graduation project. Through a series of public events centred around fashion, sustainability and collective making, Amy wants to encourage people to engage with clothing differently. Not simply as consumers, but as participants in a creative process.
Building Spaces for Collective Creativity
At the heart of the project is De Wasserij, a Rotterdam-based workspace focused on sustainable fashion and creative production. Amy first discovered the space through a friend who had an atelier there. “I immediately thought it would be such a good place to organise events,” she explains. “It already has this open atmosphere where designers are working, people walk in, and ideas are constantly beingexchanged.”
Her graduation project unfolds across three events, each with a different purpose. One aims to inspire people through film screenings and conversations with makers, another encourages visitors to activelycreate things themselves, and the final part focuses on leaving something behind that can continue after graduation. “I’ve been thinking a lot about impact,” Amy says. “What can I make that stays? Not just anevent that disappears after one evening.”
One of her ideas is to create a small public “making library” connected to De Wasserij: a space where atelier holders and local residents can exchange leftover materials, fabrics and tools. Instead of throwingmaterials away, people could use them to experiment and create something new themselves.
The Power of Making Together
Her interest in this way of working developed gradually during her studies. Earlier collaborative projects involving collage nights, sketchbook evenings and film screenings revealed how much creative energy can emerge when people make things together.
“We organised a sketchbook evening once where everyone sat down and drew together,” she recalls. “The atmosphere completely changed the work people made. Sometimes makers get stuck on their own. But when people come together, they inspire each other to think differently and continue creating.” That experience stayed with her. “People told us afterwards they genuinely felt motivated again. That was really beautiful to hear.”
Although community-building is a recurring theme within LEM, Amy’s own focus shifted increasingly towards fashion and sustainability. Alongside her studies, she makes clothing herself and works at Stil Leven Store, where upcycling also plays a large role. Through both work and research, she became increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the fashion industry and the importance of building more meaningful relationships with the clothes people wear. “I hope people take a piece of that awareness with them,” she says. “That they think differently about clothing and that you can care for things longer, repair them, change them, give them more value.”
Accessibility and Sustainability
For Amy, accessibility is an important part of that conversation. She feels many fashion-related events or workshops can unintentionally feel exclusive or intimidating. Her project instead tries to lower thatthreshold. “A lot of workshops or fashion spaces can feel inaccessible,” she explains. “I want people to feel involved. Even if they’ve never made clothing before.”
At the moment, much of her time is spent organising the first public film evening: selecting films, promoting the event and connecting with filmmakers and designers from Rotterdam. At the same time, she continues researching theories around participation, sustainability and creative communities, although she admits the academic side of graduation has not always come naturally. “The writing part has definitely been the hardest for me,” she laughs. “I have so many ideas and I just want to start making things happen immediately. Sometimes I forget about documenting the process or connecting everythingback to theory.”
Still, she has learned to see experimentation itself as a valid form of research. Conversations with tutors helped her realise that testing ideas in practice can also generate valuable knowledge.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
Without regular classes during graduation, the process now requires a different kind of discipline. Amy works closely with a small atelier group from her class, meeting several times a week to discuss progressand give feedback. “That really helps,” she says. “Otherwise it’s easy to lose structure.”
Outside the academy, she also continues to draw inspiration from the city itself. Through her work at OASE - where she previously interned - she became involved in community-centred cultural events and neighbourhood programming, experiences that strongly shaped the direction of her graduation project. “LEM really encourages you to connect with Rotterdam,” she reflects. “Through teachers, organisations, events and places in the city. That network has become incredibly valuable.”
Looking Ahead
Graduating still feels surreal to her. “I’m only 22,” she says. “Part of me still feels very young to suddenly finish school and think about working life.” Yet at the same time, the process has clarified what excites her most. “I do know now that events are really my thing.” After graduation, she dreams of buying a van and travelling for a while before possibly continuing her studies in spatial design; a field she discoveredduring a minor at HKU. The idea of designing environments and understanding how people interact with spaces feels closely connected to the kind of work she already enjoys doing now.“I love thinking abouthow people experience a space,” she says. “How you can bring people together, create interaction, make them feel something.”
For now, though, the focus remains on building something meaningful within De Wasserij. Something that can continue to grow after she leaves. Success, for Amy, is not necessarily a perfect final presentation, but the possibility that the project develops a life of its own. “If people keep using it after I’m gone, that would be amazing,” she says. “If it becomes something the community continues together, without needing me anymore.”
