Established jewellery designer and Curtin University graduate, Alister Yiap, has taken out the 18th Annual Western Australian Fashion Award for the Fine Details category.
The Canning Vale resident – also a winner of the award in 2010 – won for his Band of Gold collection, the latest of which hit the runway at the 2013 Perth Fashion Festival.
Seeking to pioneer the way for accessories and jewellery on the catwalk, Mr Yiap’s most recent collection explores the elegant and lavish potential of jewellery through artistic interpretation.
All the pieces in the collection are handmade.
“I have always been interested in creating items for the runway, aside from my fine jewellery work. The Band of Gold collection challenges the current perceptions of jewellery on the runway and showcases jewellery not only as an accessory but as an art form,” Mr Yiap said.
“My pieces have always had a sculptural element to them and I’ve recently expanded my practice to include larger scale works for public art, so I’d say I’m at a transformative stage in my career.”
Mr Yiap, who graduated from Curtin with a Bachelor of Arts, with a major in Jewellery in 2007, recently funded a new collection through a crowdsourcing site.
The Eight of Diamonds project was a follow-on from a collaboration with seven other WA designers to create pendants showcasing popular diamond shapes.
The designer plans to engage in public art projects and private commissions in the near future and will also be exhibiting in the “Fashion[ing] Forms; the craft of making” exhibition at this year’s Perth Fashion Festival.
The WA Fashion Awards are presented by Perth Fashion Festival. A list of the award winners can be found online, at http://www.perthfashionfestival.com.au/wafas-winners-revealed/
