Loini Iizyenda is a fashion and textile lecturer at the University of Namibia, with an MA in Sustainability in Fashion from Esmod Berlin University of Arts for Fashion (Germany). Her research area focuses on the symbolic representations of elements in the pre-colonial traditional costumes of Aawambo people in Namibia and formation of the contemporary cultural identities. Her article related to this research is titled The impact of Finnish Missionaries on traditional Aawambo dress featuring in the publication called Intertwined histories-150 years of Finnish-Namibian Relations. Iizyenda’s doctoral studies explore the symbolic connotations of the metal beaded ornaments. In practice Iizyenda explores product development using prints inspired by traditional ornaments and sustainable design strategies such as Upcycling and traditional handcraft techniques. Loini Iizyenda was an active advisory committee member, responsible for facilitating the establishment of the Museum of Namibian Fashion.