Students put craftsmanship in the spotlight at the MBO Crafted Awards 2025

The MBO Crafted Awards were presented Thursday evening to vocational students who excelled with their final projects at the Crafted Festival. The awards are intended to encourage graduates who demonstrated craftsmanship, courage, and creativity. The festival took place at Summa Fashion in Microstad, where creative craftsmanship was celebrated with exhibitions, performances, and surprising projects. The presentation was hosted by Janneke van Kessel, city ambassador for the municipality of Eindhoven.

The MBO Crafted Innovation Award goes to Tingting Ye (26, Den Bosch). Under the name Octopus, the fashion student designed clothing that changes color with light and heat. The jury praised her clever application of technology and the high quality of the workmanship. "You wear the same thing, but have three different outfits throughout the day," the jury report stated.

The International Talent category was won by Andres Deluque Taborda (18, Geldrop) of Summa Techniek. He moved from Colombia to the Netherlands in 2022 and stood out for his initiative, collaboration, and rapid growth during a special project for Crafted. He and his team built a wind turbine with a creative rotation system. Andres took the lead, gave his first-ever pitch in Dutch, and developed rapidly. The jury called him a "powerful example of an international technology student in the Brainport region."

The Crafted Award for Sustainability went to the team behind Summa Fashion's Dye Garden. These students—including Lennard Sap (19, Lanaken (Belgium)), Elyana Abboud (18, Eindhoven), and Nick Rouwette (21, Simpelveld)—created a garden with plants traditionally used to dye fabrics. A natural alternative to chemical dyes is growing at Microstad. The project is a creative statement against the fast-paced fashion industry, where clothing is produced and discarded at an ever-increasing pace. The jury praised the sustainable approach and the original collaboration within the student team.

Najmeh Ali Pour (26, Roermond) impressively told her personal story in clothing: the transition from caterpillar to butterfly. Her collection won the Social Impact category. As a refugee from Iran, Najmeh traveled to the Netherlands via Belgium, learned three languages, and had to constantly adapt to new cultures. "I lost myself in all those languages and customs." During her training at Summa Fashion, she rediscovered herself and found a new way to tell her story. She designed clothes that show her metamorphosis: from caterpillar to butterfly. She has since launched her own label: La Mar, named after her daughter.

The jury awarded an honorable mention to Julia Kowalczyk (20, Beek en Donk) for her touching and practical design. When her mother was undergoing chemotherapy through a port-a-cath—a device inserted under the skin that administers medication directly into a vein—Julia saw how inconvenient it was for women to constantly have to remove their shirts. She designed a shirt with a subtle zipper, allowing caregivers easy access. Her mother has since passed away. The design, she writes, is therefore "an ode to her mother." The jury was deeply moved by her story and impressed by her thoughtful solution.

This year's jury consisted of Bert Godfried (VDL-GL), Glenda Pattipeilohy (education coordinator at the Van Abbemuseum), and Veerle Hurks (education-labor market policy advisor, Eindhoven Municipality). The quality of the submissions was high; the jury was impressed and held vigorous discussions before selecting the winners.

The Crafted festival is organized annually by the vocational students themselves, assisted by a project team from Summa. The festival concluded Thursday evening with several dazzling fashion shows at Microstad.