A University of Victoria business student has transformed a class project into a fashion business that supports and celebrates art and design students across Canada.
Nelson Walusimbi is the founder and creative director of 21 Street Club, a business that seeks to create fashion items through a collaboration open only to art and design students at designated post-secondary institutions across Canada.
The students are asked to create a piece/design in the medium of their choice. It is then only made available for 21 days. The student earns 50% of the profits from any item sold on the website, which defines itself as “a safe space for expression and rebellion in fashion and art.”
Walusimbi says he got the idea for the business while talking with a group of friends who all happened to be art students.
“They kept going on and on about how hard it is for art students to show off and make money from their art, especially while still in school,” said Walusimbi. “The market for part-time work relevant to their passion is practically non-existent, despite Canadian art and design students being very talented and having so much to share.”
The venture began last year as a term project in one of his classes at the University of Victoria, where he is enrolled as a business student. This year, with help from some friends, Walusimbi has turned it into a full-time business.
Fashion items that can be purchased on the website so far include unique T-shirts, hoodies and bracelets.
He said 10 artists have agreed to collaborate on his project so far — and he hopes to attract others as the business becomes more well known.
One of the collaborators is Cecilia Thompson, 21, a third-year fine arts student at the University of Manitoba. Images of her three-part Substance Abuse series can be found on a T-shirt available on the site.
“I had been thinking about starting to sell my art when Nelson contacted me and asked if I wanted to collaborate with him,” said Thompson, whose medium is usually oil on canvas. “I think it is a great idea.”
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