Can you tell us a little bit about yourself ?
I’m Anne-Sophie D’Haen, a young entrepreneur and a student in performing arts at the university of Luik. I’ve always mixed studies and professional projects. One year ago, I created one of my biggest projects : FirstFace. I promote young fashion designers through pop up stores in different cities. The particularity of this projet is that all products are « unique » or in limited edition.
What would you consider your distinctive achievement?
At the moment, it’s the mix between my studies and my project who grows day by day. It demands a lot of organisation but it’s also very exciting to see the different connections between my two occupations. My creative sense is always in action.
What are you looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to finish my last year at the university and make the most pop up stores that I can. I discover new fashion designers everyday and I want to give them a chance to be on the national and international scene.
Which advice would you give to other professionals?
« Don’t hesitate ». « Go the quickest that you can ». « You can’t suceed if you do nothing ». The sooner you try, the sooner you discover a world of possibilities.
What are the challenges that we need to overcome to make cultural entrepreneurship more accessible?
I think that the principal problem is « categories ». We are living in a world which is always changing and evaluating. We must break the rules and stop to put « this project in this intellectual category ». We also need to listen our clients.
Indeed, in the real world, the client is the foundation of the project but in the cultural entrepreneurship, it only relates to a small group of insiders. The ideal way of thinking the project would be having a better open mind about the values the projects embeds.
