George Kyrou
The Idea Generator
George Kyrou is a social designer and the founder of motivw, coming up with the idea in early 2017. His work revolves around the social and environmental impact of design, often leading him to interesting collaborations and design action. He currently works as a graphic designer in a luxury clothing company.
Backstory
George has graduated from Kingston University London with a BA Hons in Graphic Design, where his love for colourful graphics eviolved into a playful mix of socially conscious projects. Motivw was one of them, which got awarded a social entrepreneurship award from Kingston Uni and Santander Universities and then went on to get funding to kick-start the idea into fruition. The idea was a very personal matter, to the designer, as it stemmed from his own life experiences in the military, in combination with a few trips around Europe, evolving into a series of communal workshops. In 2017 the project was first realised in that manner, upcycling workshops that deconstructed the stigmatised military garments worn by generations of conscripted youth. The project still stays true to its original DNA with military fabrics getting incorporated into the designs. George recognised the difficulty of upcycling fast and saving clothes from going to waste, so decided to put together clothes swaps and actions that lead to his involvement with Fashion Revolution, and his position as Nicosia City Leader and part of the National Coordination Team of Fashion Revolution Cyprus.