Mission Statement

At Bijou Studio, it is our goal to show designer-makers in Aotearoa New Zealand that being both creative and business-savvy do not need to be mutually exclusive and that conducting business can be a creative act in itself. We identify and celebrate the small steps that designer-makers are making towards slow fashion practices and we understand that it can be difficult to produce products that are 100% ethically sound. Our critique of fast fashion and exclusionary practices is articulated by celebrating the attempts of local-designer makers to enact small and slow practices. We continue to research how designer-makers can realign their design strategies to incorporate a slow fashion ethic. The subsequent focus of the information we provide is to understand designer-makers’ needs in a business context to build strategies that can aid them in starting and/or sustaining a small-scale label. Bijou Studio takes pride in differing from other existing business and fashion incubators through its inclusive positioning as a free online platform.