Shorten the path from idea to action

Marina Toeters

Setting the scene

It was a dark and grey Wednesday morning when I arrived at the Fashion Tech Farm in Eindhoven. Inside, the light was dim and warm. Christmas lights were on. Soft jazz played in the background. People were already working. Some sat at a long table with laptops open. Someone else was cutting fabric with scissors.

What struck me immediately was the contrast. The space felt cozy, almost domestic. But everywhere around us were machines.

Sewing machines. Not one, but many. Spools of thread lined the walls. Fabric lay folded and half-used on tables and organized in racks. In one corner, a soldering station. A large laser cutter was cramped into a small room next to the kitchen. Nearby, a thermal welding machine and steam irons, all ready to be used.

Nothing was hidden away. There was no separate factory room. No threshold you had to cross. No safety gate between thinking and making. You could sketch at the table, turn around, and face a machine.

That detail mattered more than I realized at the time.

What she does

Marina created the Fashion Tech Farm. The name sounds odd at first: fashion, tech, and farm. But once you’re inside, it makes sense.

This isn’t just a production space. And it’s not an office pretending to be creative. It’s a place to experiment. To try ideas early. To turn curiosity into something tangible.

Quietly, it’s also a home for makers.

Marina has built many wearable fashion-tech projects herself, but what impressed me most was the environment she created at her farm. She doesn’t just provide access to machines. She built a space for creativity, guidance, and structure.

She believes that, just like on the farm where she grew up, hard work depends on rhythm. She creates conditions where people show up, feel well, and stay sharp. Days have a clear beginning and end. Lunch is always shared.

She explained: “It’s very easy to get lost in building and working without breaks, doing all-nighters. But long term, this doesn’t work. You need breaks to recharge and think clearly.”

What emerges from that structure is not only output. It’s a sense of belonging and care. People don’t just come here to make things. They come because they feel at home. To connect with others. To share and exchange ideas.

Sometimes people start with half a day a week. Sometimes they grow into a permanent spot. Marina lets that evolve naturally.

The result is a space that produces progress and projects, but also something harder to measure: people who feel stronger and continue to grow.

What we talked about

Iteration over polish

Marina has a strong bias toward doing. Not endless preparation. Not perfect plans. Not waiting until something feels ready.

She prefers iteration over polish. Making something imperfect is better than talking about a perfect version that doesn’t exist. Learning only starts once there is something real on the table. Until then, everything is theoretical.

That mindset is embedded in how the Fashion Tech Farm works. Tools are visible. Materials are accessible. The environment nudges you toward action.

Why people get stuck

According to Marina, most people don’t struggle with ideas. They struggle with the transition. The step from designing, optimizing, and discussing to actually making.

It’s tempting to think a little longer. To refine just a bit more. To believe that more thinking will make things faster later. In practice, it often does the opposite.

To break that pattern, she uses artificial constraints. Time limits. Fictional deadlines. Clear moments where thinking has to stop.

The 10-minute sprint

At some point Marina stopped talking and said: “Enough. We have ten minutes. Let’s build.”

No preparation. No debate.

We sketched quickly. Turned the sketch into a simple digital file. Someone fired up the laser cutter. A piece of soft blue textile was selected and cut seconds later. Another machine was used to weld it all together.

It was chaotic. Fast. Slightly uncomfortable. Decisions had to be made without certainty. Sizes guessed. Shapes chosen. Assumptions baked in.

Ten minutes later, we had something in our hands. Immediately, things became obvious. It was too wide. The next version should be longer. Adjustments were already clear.

The learning didn’t come from thinking harder. It came from building something that could be touched.

Fashion and tech

The Fashion Tech Farm sits at an interesting intersection. Textile production has historically moved to where labor is cheapest. It’s a labor-intensive industry, and many clothes still use techniques that are more than 100 years old.

Tech integration into textiles changes that equation. Integrating electronics, sensing, or medical functionality into textiles requires a different skill set. It creates space for new kinds of products and new kinds of manufacturing.

These are worlds that usually don’t collide. Here, they do.

Having a place where fashion and technology meet quickly, hands-on, and without friction makes it possible to test ideas that would otherwise remain abstract. Here you can develop the first 100 prototypes, iterate fast, experiment, and get to a working design.

Reflections

Discomfort as a design tool

The artificial deadline wasn’t a trick. It was a tool. By forcing decisions early, uncertainty surfaced faster. Hesitation often looks like care, but in practice it delays learning. Progress tends to live exactly where things feel slightly premature.

You don’t learn before you build, you learn because you build

The prototype didn’t answer our questions. It created better ones. Size, proportion, and where the bond between textile failed all became visible only once something existed. Thinking isn’t a substitute for making.

Systems matter more than motivation

What Marina has built isn’t sustained by individual energy or inspiration. It’s sustained by structure. Fixed rhythms. Shared lunches. Clear endings to the day. Creativity here doesn’t rely on heroic effort. It’s supported by a system that makes showing up easier than burning out.

Output is not the only form of value

The Fashion Tech Farm produces prototypes and experiments, but it also produces stability. A place to belong. A place where people feel supported while figuring things out. That kind of value doesn’t show up in portfolios, yet it shapes everything that does.

Taking the leap changes the equation

None of this existed before Marina decided to commit first and solve later. The space is a reminder that clarity often follows action, not the other way around.

Innovation accelerates at intersections

Textiles are ancient. Technology is accelerating. Where they meet, new questions emerge about bodies, sensing, care, and interaction. Spaces like this dramatically shorten learning loops. Having one in Eindhoven feels less like a luxury and more like necessary infrastructure for turning new ideas into reality.