Some of London's most innovative designers are getting involved in this year's Fashion Revolution Week in commemoration of the Rana Plaza factory disaster which happened four years ago today, killing over 1100 garment workers. The public are invited to meet the makers in a series of open studios happening in London, New York, Athens, Prato in Italy, LA and Jakarta. The aim of the week long series of events is to engage us all further in the conversations around transparency of supply chains and to open up some of the processes along the way.

The week of events has been curated by our own Tamsin Blanchard. “These are designers who enjoy connecting to their own communities, and increasingly they do that by opening up their studios and engaging them in workshops and creating an experience,” she says.

Blackhorse Lane Atelier Studios 

Blackhorse Lane Ateliers will be opening its doors to the public throughout the week to show its extraordinary business model for making a new generation of hand-crafted jeans. Katie Jones, who won the Bright New Things bursary from Selfridges last year will be offering a workshop in her Cockpit Arts studio on Wednesday featuring the new range of patches she launches this week with Beyond Retro.

Katie Jones in her studio

Fellow CSM graduate John Alexander Skelton who won the L’Oreal prize at the end of his MA last year will be talking about his recent Collection III and the provenance of his unique, hand-made fabrics. On Thursday, you can get a modern take on embroidery with Jodie Ruffle who is re-thinking luxury sportswear with her artisanal approach currently reworking Adidas tracksuits. “Anyone who comes can have a look at my past collections, try some pieces on, chat to me, watch the 360 film I made,’ said Ruffle. “I will be working throughout the day on a new project so will have embroidery frames etc set up - it would be nice to be able to show people how I work.”

John Alexander Skelton's Collection III

On Friday there will be a whole day of talks at the Instituto Marangoni open to all. Designers sharing their insights into working outside of the conventional system include Michelle Lowe-Holder, Dr Noki and recent graduate Bethany Williams. Christopher Raeburn will host his Totes Remade workshop at his studio on Saturday, helping people create their own tote bag made from remnant cottons and customised using patches supplied by the label specialists Avery Dennison. There will also be events by The Autonomous Collections and the Ridley Road-based young designer duo Kepler will be demonstrating lino printing, one of the many hands on techniques they use in their current collection.

All the events are free. To sign up for the Instituto Marangoni talks on Friday 11-3pm go to www.eventbrite.co.uk. For information on the other Fashion Revolution Open Studio events go to fashionrevolution.org/events.