Rapanui Blog

Rapanui is an Eco-Fashion company from the Isle of Wight, that makes Organic, Ethical clothing using Renewable Energy with award-winning traceability. Rapanui is about making eco-fashion cool.

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Can’t Find a Job in Design – Why Not Design Your Own?

An eco design company founded by two young brothers who found themselves unemployed in the height of the recession decided that if they can’t find a design job, they’d best make one. They say that design jobs don’t have to be a dream, design careers can be forged by the designer alone.

Across Britain, more than one in ten students who left university last summer failed to find work after six months – the highest unemployment rate for ten years. For a lot of graduates the situation is unbearable but out of challenging situations, innovative ideas often come.

The co-founders of Rapanui, Rob and Martin Drake-Knight, turned their passion for design and the environment into an eco-fashion business. The business now employs 12 people all between the age of 18 and 25. The company also give valuable experience to design interns who have struggled to gain employment in the recession. What’s remarkable about Rapanui is that it’s all been achieved on a starting budget of £200 from university halls.

Rapanui is about making eco-fashion cool – Designer Mart Drake-Knight explains: “One of the challenges is to incorporate the idea of sustainability in our designs without compromising style and coming across as a typical earth-mother brand. We want consumers to wear our clothing first, secondary is influencing the wearer to think about making green and sustainable choices in their wider lifestyle through the unique influence a well designed brand and product can have. Design, whether it is eco-design, textiles, communication design, even typography, can all contribute to sustainability. Just look at our Traceability tool.”

Their traceability tool allows the shopper to see where their clothing comes from and how it is made on interactive maps and recently won Rapanui the 2010 Sustainable Business Award.

With the 170,000 University applicants likely to miss out on a university place this year the situation for design graduates and undergraduates will continue to be challenging for some time to come.

Mart Drake-Knight, co-founder of Rapanui said “we hope that our story will show other young people out there that you can be a successful designer in any economic climate, whether you wear a suit or flip flops. You’ve just got to make it happen.”

Find out more about Rapanui

August 6th, 2010