Reference Studios returns with INTERVENTION V, the fifth edition of its fashion and culture platform, taking over Kraftwerk Berlin on February 2nd during Berlin Fashion Week. Founded and directed by Mumi Haiati, the one-day festival brings together runway presentations, conversations, and listening formats inside a former power station that now functions as a site for transdisciplinary cultural production.

The program opens with the first collaboration between Reference Studios and TED. Held at GLOBUS within Kraftwerk, these salon-scale conversations mark TED's inaugural move into fashion and design programming. The partnership signals a wider opening in how culture platforms frame creative practice.

Runway shows take place throughout February 2nd across two floors, featuring collections from BUZIGAHILL, Kenneth Ize, DAGGER, JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN, and GmbH. Presented consecutively, the lineup gives form to independent voices working outside traditional industry structures, with designers whose formal languages reflect global rather than purely European references.

Running parallel to the main event, a four-day pop-up conceived by LIVE FROM EARTH opens on January 30th at Potsdamer Straße 100. The Doofer Street Market functions as exhibition, gathering point, and performance venue, extending INTERVENTION into the city as an accessible cultural encounter rather than an industry-only affair.

Sound becomes its own program strand on February 2nd, when GLOBUS hosts a Listening Lounge from midday to evening. Curated by LIVE FROM EARTH, the program brings together artists and selectors from Berlin's music landscape, positioning sound as a parallel interface to the runway and tracing how music scenes and fashion practice inform each other across geographies.

"INTERVENTION creates proximity between disciplines, geographies, and cultures that rarely share space," Haiati explains. "It reflects how culture actually moves today: fluid, interconnected, and shaped by globalism rather than geography. Our focus remains on amplifying voices and creative realities beyond the established European capitals, recognizing the cultural value already produced across different parts of the world."

⁠INTERVENTION V brings runway, sound, and conversation into one day at Kraftwerk. How do you imagine the audience engaging with this format, compared to a traditional fashion schedule?

“INTERVENTION V creates a completely different kind of attention. At Kraftwerk, the runway, the sound, and the conversations all bleed into one another. People don’t just sit and watch — they move through the energy of the day. It’s more immersive, more alive, and very much about human connection and discourse. The format invites people to engage, not just observe.”

Kraftwerk carries a strong architectural and historical weight. How does working inside a former power station shape your thinking around fashion, power, and culture today?

Kraftwerk has a physical and emotional weight. You feel the history of labor and industry the moment you walk in. Showing fashion here pulls the work away from surface and makes you think about power, culture, and who holds influence today. The building keeps the work grounded and honest - it´s about the core essence without distraction. The venue is also known for one of the most exciting festivals who are one of our clients ATONAL. I think it’s the most directional festival in Europe. And ultimately it’s also a safe space with its Tresor club - one of the most iconic techno clubs in history.

The collaboration with TED introduces dialogue as a central element. Why did this moment feel right to place fashion and design inside a conversational setting rather than letting the runway stand alone?

Kraftwerk has a physical and emotional weight. You feel the history of labor and industry the moment you walk in. Showing fashion here pulls the work away from surface and makes you think about power, culture, and who holds influence today. The building keeps the work grounded and honest - it´s about the core essence without distraction. The venue is also known for one of the most exciting festivals who are one of our clients ATONAL. I think it’s the most directional festival in Europe. And ultimately it’s also a safe space with its Tresor club - one of the most iconic techno clubs in history.

The runway program brings together BUZIGAHILL, Kenneth Ize, DAGGER, JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN, and GmbH. When you with the Reference Studios team put together this selection, what shared urgency or attitude connects these designers beyond their different geographies and aesthetics?

What connects these designers is a shared urgency. They each work from a deeply personal place and challenge existing narratives within their own cultural contexts. It’s not about aesthetic alignment - it’s a shared intention to create from necessity rather than trend. And perhaps it’s about mindset.

⁠Sound plays a parallel role through the Listening Lounge and LIVE FROM EARTH. What does music communicate within INTERVENTION that fashion alone cannot?

Sound brings an emotional temperature that fashion alone can’t. Music shapes how people feel the space, how they remember it, and how they connect to one another. Culture often moves first in sound, so integrating it makes the entire experience more grounded, more immediate, and more human.

INTERVENTION often speaks about proximity between cultures and disciplines. As the platform grows, how do you see it evolving while keeping its sense of productive friction?

INTERVENTION grows by staying open to tension. That friction - the meeting of different disciplines, worlds, and perspectives is where creativity happens. As the platform expands, our goal is to keep that energy sharp rather than smoothing it out. It’s about urgency - mirroring the current times.

⁠Several of the designers showing at INTERVENTION carry strong political, social, or cultural positions in their work. How does INTERVENTION hold space for those positions without turning them into spectacle or theme?

Many of the designers we work with carry strong cultural or political perspectives. We approach those with respect. Our role is to support and facilitate their vision - and to help them communicate it in a nuanced, accurate, and meaningful way. That is ultimately our mission. We don’t turn their realities into themes or spectacle; we give them the context and space they need to speak on their own terms.