27.08.2025
Saga Furs Creative Hub hosted a very international group of students. The guests were coming from Italy, Türkiye, Canada, and United States. They brought together diverse perspectives and endless combinations reflecting creativity, being winners of our previously arranged fur competitions. As always, in addition to fur techniques, sustainability and traceability topics were in focus.
One of the targets of also this one-week workshop was to further strengthen cooperation with educational institutions focused on fashion and design. The participants represented Cégep Marie Victorin, FIT New York, Accademia di Brera, IED Rome, in addition to Mimar Sinan University and Marmara University located in Türkiye.
Collaboration with educational institutions requires both financial and time investment for Saga Furs. The company aims not only to serve as a global marketplace for furs but also to spread enthusiasm and ideas related to fur craftsmanship. At the same time, the international fur community is strengthened, and designers and teachers are helped to deepen their expertise. Participants also further spread knowledge on sustainability. Some of them want to work as trainers in the field and also as designers in the future, like David from Canada.
A dream came true
“For me, this workshop is about boosting creativity with the help of more experienced professionals in the fur industry. At the same time, it promotes awareness of fur as a responsible material with deep roots,” says David, fur apprentice working in a fur workshop in Quebec, Canada. He is a previous student from Cégep Marie Victorin, graduated year 2024.
The starting point for David’s journey to Saga Furs was the visit of the furrier Vittoria Tosatto to his school. “I got acquainted with the collections made with designers Ludovico Bruno and Romeo Hunte and learned about the sustainability of fur and the traceability solution developed by Saga Furs.”
David is excited about reusing fur and aware of the advantages of fur as a material compared to e.g. polyester and faux fur, which burden the environment and won´t be worn by many generations. He wants to be part of the fur industry by teaching and inspiring people. “Fur will come back when people realize the pollution caused by synthetic materials and dare to find out facts. Fortunately, also the number of design students interested in fur has increased.”
David was impressed by the general atmosphere and surroundings of Saga Furs. “People are extremely engaged, and everything is well ordered super clean.”
This positive person was outside the USA and in Finland for the first time. He was also impressed with our country, where he stayed to explore for a week after the workshop ended.
The schedule was tight as always. It really was a pleasure to hear David’s summary of the week: “This was a dream come true.” It reinforces that these workshops create meaningful connections and strengthen the fur community.
Caption: “This was a dream come true,” said David, fur apprentice working in a fur workshop in Québec, Canada. He is a previous student from Cégep Marie Victorin. We had a tight schedule, so hearing such comments and feeling the participants’ enthusiasm creates lasting community spirit.
The other participants were:
- Amandine: graduate student from Cégep Marie Victorin (CA), winner of fur competition
- Valentine: student from Fashion Institute of Technology New York (US), winner of fur competition
- Sabrina & Shaima: students from Accademia di Brera (IT), winner of fur competition
- Josy: student from Istituto Europeo di Design Rome (IT), winner of fur competition
- Lourdes: student from Istituto Secoli Milano (IT) winner of fur competition
- Yaren: student from Marmara University (TK) winner of fur competition
- Servan: student from Mimar Sinan University (TK) winner of fur competition