World Hope Forum Argentina
Curated by Gimena Garmendia, WHF Ambassador for Argentina
Sunday, November 16th
9:00–12:00 New York EST
10:00–13:00 Buenos Aires ART
15:00–18:00 Madrid CET
The World Hope Forum Argentina engages with the land, the hands that craft, and the fabric of community. The session focuses on the new voices shaping contemporary Argentina—creatives who connect deeply with tradition while redefining how the country presents itself to the world. In their work, they generate bridges, forge new opportunities for collaboration, and imagine fresh possibilities as a collective.
Through this lens, networks connect artisans, artists, designers, and cultural initiatives—sustaining one another and amplifying a shared vision. From cooperatives to visionary artists, from brands reshaping local crafts to cultural spaces amplifying these voices, Argentina’s creative ecosystem demonstrates how tradition and innovation coexist. This interplay gives rise to new modes of making, thinking, and connecting, offering a vision of Argentina that is dynamic, collaborative, and forward-looking.
This edition of WHF invites participants to explore how identity, collaboration, hope, and creativity are being reimagined across Argentina, and to witness the transformative potential of a country as diverse, resilient, and imaginative as the people who shape it.
Gimena Garmendia
With a background in marketing, fashion and textile design, Gimena Garmendia founded SUDESTADA in 2020 for creative talent and businesses to expand, grow and achieve their wildest dreams. SUDESTADA is a multidisciplinary studio at the intersection of fashion and art focused on identifying and amplifying the voices of all kinds of creatives — from artists to artisans, designers, brands, collectives and more —who are being overlooked by the mainstream narrative of the industry.
Lidewij Edelkoort
Co-Founder World Hope Forum
Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. From 2015-2020 she was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular at a time when she is regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she co-founded the World Hope Forum with Philip Fimmano as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. Launched in 2020, PROUD SOUTH is a mesmerising visual book that celebrates the creative forces from the southern parts of the planet. Through the colourful and expressive lens of contemporary fashion, photography, styling and art, Edelkoort and Lili Tedde bring together emerging and established talents from wide and far, illustrating that the axis of global creativity has indeed dramatically shifted. In 2025, Edelkoort is launching a second edition of PROUD SOUTH focusing on craft and design. Of the movement, she says, “A southern generation of creatives is standing up, expressing local craft, embracing regional materials, recognising ancestral practices and cherishing indigenous values.”
@lidewijedelkoort
Philip Fimmano
Co-Founder World Hope Forum
Philip Fimmano is a trend analyst and consultant, contributing to Trend Union’s forecasting books, magazines and strategic studies for international companies in fashion, textiles, interiors and lifestyle. In 2011, Fimmano co-founded Talking Textiles with Li Edelkoort; an ongoing initiative to promote awareness and innovation in textiles through touring exhibitions, a trend publication, a design prize and free educational programmes – including New York Textile Month, a citywide festival celebrating textile creativity each September. He is the co-author of the design book A Labour of Love (Lecturis, 2020) and the co-founder of the World Hope Forum, a new platform for creative community building. Fimmano is the mentor of Polimoda's fashion forecasting masters and textile masters in Florence, and he is on the Board of Directors for the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe.