“We should be living proof that you don’t have to focus on just one ideal.”
THE CREATIVE
Profession:
Fashion Designer
Location:
Zurich Switzerland
Introduction:
I am Yannik Zamboni, Swiss-Italian, Switzerland based fashion designer, founder &
creative director of the fashion label “maison blanche”. My goal as a designer is to
reconcile sustainability, diversity, fair working conditions, conceptual fashion, cradle
2 cradle practices and much more. As this is pretty much the opposite of what the
industry does, I like to call myself the epicenter of anti-fashion.
Context:
I have a bachelor of Arts in “doing fashion” from the University of Applied Arts and Sciences FHNW Switzerland
I was the winner of “making the cut” season 3, a TV reality series, produced and hosted by Heidi Klum
I am a founding member of “Circular Clothing Organization”
My brand had its NYFW debut in September 2022 and showed again last September 2023
I was a guest judge for the reality TV show “Germany’s Next Topmodel - by Heidi Klum”
Heidi Klum went viral dressed in “maison blanche” at the People's Choice Awards 2022
I was the winner of the “High Flyer of the Year Award” in 2023 in Switzerland
maison blanche gets nominated for the “Swiss Design Award” in 2023
I was the founder of “Tags against Crime” in cooperation with several NGOs, which is an awareness campaign promoting labels to remind people that there are traces of DNA within the clothes after a sexual assault and therefore the label says: Do not wash if you just have been sexually assaulted and a QR code leading to a webpage, dedicated to survivors of sexual assault.
maison blanche dressed stars like Heidi Klum, Ciara, Julia Fox & Black Sherif, just to name a few.
The outfit maison blanche created and I was wearing for Heidi Klum’s legendary Halloween Party in 2023 was featured in Elle-Mexico, PAPER Mag, WWD, Vogue Germany etc.
maison blanche launches their first four perfumes in 2025
THE QU & A
What are 3 values that you wish to mediate through your work
Our vision at maison blanche is to interrogate socio-political taboos through our
productions of conceptual fashion – creating an arena for interaction where dialogue is the
primary weapon. The collections of maison blanche primarily target issues toward the
defamation and repression of minorities, gendered conflicts, and feminism– with a focus on
the LGBTQIA+ community.
“We should be living proof that you don’t have to focus on just one ideal. You can reconcile
many goals: fair working conditions, inclusion, conscious and circular fashion,
socio-political concepts, and at the same time create high-quality products that meet the
highest design standards.”
What are 3 relevant problems that you wish to solve through your work?
The fashion industry as second biggest polluter in the world
Fair working conditions, starting with paying interns
Conceptual fashion which targets socio-political issues and taboo-topics
THE CONVERSATION
VOLUME VIII - ACCENTS
What do you see as your cultural path and how do you articulate it to the world?
That’s impossible to make short, so here is the long version:
As a counter-cultural label, rejection of maison blanche’s ethos is quintessential to its
origins as queer anti-fashion, abnormal and unexpected. Subversive politics is found within each stitch, reflected in the deconstruction and deposition of continuous design codes; a
side-stream to the mainstream; creating its own (ab)normal; rewriting the unwritten rules,
completely detached from the oppressive structures of dominant social ideology.
In its final form, maison blanche will completely revolutionize the final frontier of the fashion
landscape. Asserting itself independently and autonomously on the market, once maison
blanche is through, there will be no excuse to favor linear production over circular anymore.
Completely vegan, plastic-free, equitable employment, and cradle2cradle standard, the
production and ephemerality of fashion will be gone with as we all know it.
“Circular fashion is the only future I want to imagine. Therefore, I always say: if you really
want to succeed – have no plan B. Put all of your efforts into what you believe.”
How do you define change, imperfection and focus? How do they define you?
Change
For me;
changes are mostly unforeseen transitions which are necessary in order to grow, I
always try to see the good in them.
Imperfection
For me;
imperfections are everything that is not standardized, they captivate me and I find
beauty in them.
Focus
For me;
focus is the persistent work on something until you have completed it and is a
necessary component for success.
What are the ‘accents’ that make your work authentic?
I only do what I really believe in.
Money is never the main motivation.
I don't pretend and I don't lie.
I know who I am and where I want to go.
I believe in karma and am convinced that if you do good, good things will come
back to you.
I never have a plan B, I put everything on plan A.
I never try to please everyone, I do everything out of conviction.
I really care about inclusion, fair wages, awareness and sustainability, our planet,
other socio-political issues, defamation and oppression of marginalized minorities.
I don't do anything purely for marketing reasons.
I don't greenwash.
I'm not interested in trends.
I don't have my mouth shut.
I truly want to be part of the change I want to see in the world.
THE GUEST
Name:
Karen Rauschenbach
Profession:
Founder “Circular Clothing Organisation” / CEO “the blue suit”
Location:
Zurich Switzerland
A moment of revelation about each other’s character that made you realize something
about the world or your belief system:
Yannik Zamboni: We actually rented both a space at the “incubator & maker space” a
shared studio for young creatives & startups in Zurich, Switzerland. Karen was based there
with „Circular Clothing Organisation“and me with my brand.
After the first conversation, it was very clear, when it comes to sustainability, we have
congruent views and values. We realized we both care and we both want to be part of a
change.
As we were struggling often in finding sustainable ways of production, dyeing, printing,
shipping and a lot more we often had the chance to exchange thoughts, knowledge and
support each other. The logical result was to combine our efforts, because as we say in
German; „Geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid“ (a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved)
After only a short time, she honored me by asking me to become a founding member of the
"Circular Clothing Organization". An association that enables small brands to receive the
cradle2cradle certificate and promotes, accumulates and shares knowledge about
sustainability.
Karen has a clear goal in mind and inspires me to keep going even when times are tough!
And we keep working on a brighter future since then...
Karen Rauschenbach: Yannik’s optimism and positive attitude helps me to believe that we
can make a difference and that we need to continue the fight for a more sustainable and
circular fashion industry.
After three years of heading our cooperative Circular Clothing, I felt worn out and drained
not knowing how to continue. In a team meeting, Yannik drew an image of us as a team
climbing up a ladder and pulling up other people along the way. It was 100% clear that this
was the only valid way forward. It made me continue and gave me the energy to do so.
Yannik has the gift to see very clearly and formulate his thoughts in simple and compelling
ways to inspire others to follow.
Once Yannik has set their mind to something they will do it no matter what. I remember
Yannik saying something along the lines of ‘Never have a plan B - you want Plan A to
happen’. And that is absolutely how Yannik works. If they have their mind set to it. It will
happen. As simple as that. This is an amazing inspiration for me to see how this mindset
can move mountains.
THE LEADER
Creative Leaders to look up to:
Dinie van den Heuvel / Eileen Akbaraly / Karen Rauschenbach / Yvonne Vermeulen
# ASK
What if everyone in the fashion industry would actually start to care?
This conversation contributes to a new media format, where Creatives are in full control of
their narratives. By exploring alternatives to narrative journalism, GAHSP starts
unconventional conversations, emphasizing values and problems that shape our lives
collectively.
Conversation Led by Julia Horvath
Image Courtesy of Yannik Zamboni
Unedited. Only Formatted.
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