Denise Barr
Fashion and Graphic Designer. Does printed pieces, helps with sewing pop-ups and the Create-A-Thon. Creates all-natural evening fashions.
48 Hour Create-a-Thon 2026
Fashion Lab Designers 2026
Meet the designers who up-cycled one to two runway-ready looks in only 48 hours.
Mary Dancer Browne
Mary is an author, personality specialist, and creative spirit who sees Sedona as a living playground of beauty, magic, and endless possibility. Sewing since childhood, she delights in up-cycling thrift-store treasures into one-of-a-kind creations. She especially loves connecting with beginners or those returning to sewing after a pause. For Mary, the magic is watching a spark turn to a shimmer of ideas then burst into joyful expressions of imagination! She treasures sewing side by side with people of all ages and backgrounds as they transform fabrics, textures and old favorites into fresh delights, supporting one another and celebrating as unique fashions come to life.
Zenka Caro
Zenka Caro makes the impossible possible. She is the founder of the nonprofit LightNet and creator of the Dream Machine. This year, her fashion line explores what she calls “Indigenous Galactic,” combining bleach dye, Marko Rodin’s vortex mathematics, and spoon-bending Matrix themes. The collection also honors her late boyfriend, Standing Bears, an Indigenous author, open-ocean long-distance swimming champion, and founder of We Are the Medicine Circles.
Jesselynn Desmond
Before the spotlight, there was a sewing machine. At just 10 years old, Jesselynn Desmond discovered a passion for transforming fabric into wearable art, a journey that led to designing one-of-a-kind costumes for circus performers and the entertainment world. Fueled by imagination, she specializes in turning trash scraps, discarded clothing, and forgotten materials into breathtaking masterpieces that challenge expectations and celebrate reinvention. Every creation tells a story, proving beauty can emerge from the unexpected. Bold, whimsical, and unforgettable, Jesselynn's designs invite you to see the impossible differently and leave you wondering what extraordinary creation she'll dream up next.
Danielle Kort
Danielle Kort grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska before launching a career at the heart of the fashion industry — interning with Nicole Miller, designing for Mudd Jeans and Hotkiss, and sourcing fabric for Calvin Klein's bridge line, ck. But as the true cost of fast fashion became impossible to ignore, Danielle followed a deeper calling. She reinvented herself as a transformational life coach, destination retreat leader, and author of Wild Spirit Fire: Freedom from Fear and Separation. Today she creates experiences that awaken — from Women Breaking Plates to a consciousness and AI conference at MIT. Returning to fashion feels like a homecoming with a message.
Inok Alrutz
As a lifelong lover of fashion, sustainability, thrifting, and upcycling, Inok is now the proud owner and primary curator of Up & Coming Boutique & Gallery in downtown Flagstaff. This eclectic collective features curated pre-owned and upcycled clothing from several local clothing brands, and artwork and handmade goods from 3 dozen+ local artists and creators.
Sherri Columbus
Hello, I am Sherri Columbus I am the angels whisperer Oracle. I am a spiritual channel, psychic, medium, and animal communicator. I am a cat 🐈 rescuer. I soley run The Apothecattery Where Healing ❤️🩹 Magic 🪄 ✨ 🐈⬛ Happens! An animal sanctuary. I support these animals myself, but would love donations. I love the idea of creating something new and exciting from existing items that I haven’t been using!
Lyness Rogers
Hi. Im Lyon, I enjoy things that dont seem like they go together. Things that take ideas we've had for a long time and melds them into something unique. I like things that are cool or pretty to look at, but hide a useful or practical aspect beneath itself. I've always drawn inspiration from history, sci-fi, anime, etc. To paint these fusions. Call it eclectic functionality. With clothing, it's the same. Not just coverings for our trmples, but art that decorates them and the voices of our imaginations given canvas.
Estele Terkild
I've recently moved out West for the 2nd time & am grateful to call the desert, home. I love playing in the realms of art, creativity, design - pushing the boundaries of expression. I'm partnered with a Modeling Agency & fashion is more than name brands or labels to me. I aim to make sustainable efforts everyday & utilize all resources I can to prevent more waste. I consider myself a lifestyle Artist, a creative manifestation from source itself & often ponder about what it means to make art, be art & organically express myself, as one with all of life!
Lauren Starr
We live in one of the best places in the world. Creating is beauty and it is a fun way to compliment the beauty of God's creation.
We live in harmony which comes from being authentic. One's true self is an inner expression and desires no outside validation. Being is enough.
Mary Olsen Kelly
Mary Olsen Kelly is an author, National Speaker, Entrepreneur and Pearl Specialist, she hosts the podcast for “Finding the Pearls” and she has worked in the entertainment industry as a writer/producer and actress in NYC, Hawaii and Los Angeles. As a teenager she was co-owner of Toad Manor Originals, a bohemian fashion boutique run entirely by high school girls.
Heather Schaffnit
My name is Heather, and I'm an upcycling artist in Flagstaff, Arizona. I have been upcycling through my apparel brand the Chaos Closet since 2023, originally focusing on hand painted art on clothing, and eventually moving towards complete reworks of thrifted clothes. I use 100% recycled material and work with a variety of media including airbrushing, embroidery, and leatherwork. I am a long time artist and very excited to participate in this upcycling challenge!
Diana Tursanovic
I am the founder and self-taught designer behind Design by Lady D, a distinctive fashion brand based in Glendale, Arizona. Originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, I moved to the United States 28 years ago with my husband and our three children. Today, I am proud mother-in-law of three and grandmother of six.
Fashion has inspired me since childhood, and although life took me in another direction for many years, my passion never faded. In 2019, I created my first dress, a wedding gown for my daughter, and that was the moment when I decided. The same year I met Angela Johnson of FABRIC-Tempe, and became a member of that nonprofit organization. I also presented my work in my first fashion show with that organization. I enjoy designing distinctive outfits for women and children while reusing, repurposing, and recycling fabrics and other materials. I am excited to participate in a Fashion Lab Sedona fashion show for the first time.
Sofia Suardi
Sofia Suardi and Samurai Saturn are a creative partnership of six and seven: structured chaos in motion. Working across fashion, adornment, performance, design, and world-building, they transform everyday materials into wearable artifacts built for movement, ritual, and impact. From reconstructed silk and hand-shaped garments to apocalypse-ready boots embedded with hematite, their practice treats the body as both canvas and architecture. Sofia brings sensual fluidity; Samurai brings Saturnian structure, symbolism, and direction. Together, they sew, draw, dance, style, and build realities where discipline becomes decadent, survival becomes beautiful, and life itself becomes the runway toward a sexier future of their making.
Sofia Rome
Hello! My name is Sofia Rome and I have always had a flare for fashion. From a young age I would always find ways to be creative and then I discovered the art. Although I loved to create, I first needed to find myself spiritually. After building myself emotionally for my life it’s time I built myself physically. My goal is to be a successful fashion designer, designing for celebrities and runways. I have an eye for beauty and encourage women to express the sexuality and sensuality. My art also ties into my Fire and Watery spirit. I hope to inspire others to express themselves authentically and to also connect to their own soul. I find that art can speak more than 1000 words could. It is a futile device I wish to share with this world. ♡
Hollie Laban
Sengiidii! Hello!! My name is Hollie Laban from the Tewa/Hopi Tribes. I am Sand Clan and come from the Village of Tewa. I feel I am new to the designer and fashion world but it has been an exciting journey so far. My pieces incorporate my Tewa and Hopi culture, bringing the old and new together to showcase and exemplify where I come from. Kuna'ah/Thank You
Natalie Harlow
Natalie Harlow is a retired senior who has traded in the daily grind for a vibrant life centered around creativity, community and active living. Her true passion lies in up-cycling, where she takes elements of nature along side discarded or salvaged items and transforms them into one-of-a-kind treasures. When she is not busy crafting in her workshop she can be found outdoors hiking or playing pickle ball. Natalie believes retirement is the perfect time to explore create and enjoy every single moment.
Hannah Elizabeth Cruz
Hi everyone, I am Hannah Elizabeth Cruz! As a child, I would hide in my room and read every page of the 90s fashion magazines I checked out from the library. I would imagine myself as a runway model and have been putting together my own styles ever since! As a teenager, I received my first sewing machine and started altering my own clothes into a mix of 90s Nirvana grunge, with Y2K Matrix goth vibes! Today, I am @Tinkahontas, a vocal freestyle artist, and I create music merch by up-cycling 98%+ cotton clothing into art with exclusive QR code music download labels for the artist brand! Blending artistic genres with music business and sharable frameworks is my true passion!
TXNK STCH is creating Syntropy art by visioning a better world through collaboration and connection, repairing the world we live in through music, fashion, and design!
Sonic Fusion
Sonic Fusion is the steward behind the Sedona Gong Vortex and the creator of Pleiadian Jazz, a playful, frequency-rich genre he brings to life every Wednesday night at Ultimate Light Mission. Now stepping into the Fashion Lab Create-a-thon, Sonic answers the call to design a look that embodies the same joyful, multidimensional energy that pulses through his sound. Rooted in his Quantum Sound Experience and the vortex currents of Sedona, Sonic's work channels sacred frequency, deep energetic activation, and the highest vibration of LOVE. Supported by higher-dimensional guidance, he crafts experiences, and now fashion, to help participants align with their most expansive path. His design vision is to create what guests often feel in his sessions: stuck energy dissolving, creativity awakening, and the body-mind-spirit lighting up with possibility.
Design in 2027
Registration for next year's 48 Hour Create-a-Thon opens in the spring. Beginners welcome. Join the designer waitlist and you'll hear first.