A designer from the Bay of Plenty region is among the finalists from 22 countries announced for this year's World of WearableArt Awards Show.
Kerry Funnel is the one and only finalist from the Bay of Plenty.
The world's most significant wearable art competition is returning for its 31st season this year in Wellington from Wellington from September 26 to October 13.
About 60,000 people are expected to attend the 2019 WOW awards season.
WOW competition director Heather Palmer says this year's finalists' work is outstanding, with the designers pushing boundaries of invention and scale, using diverse materials and progressive technology.
'It never ceases to amaze me each year the sheer brilliance of our designers' work and this year is no exception. There has been such a high level of experimentation and innovation by the designers this year, using materials in unexpected ways to create bizarre, edgy works of art.
'Finalist designers were selected over three days of judging at the WOW Museum in Nelson. I now look forward to the next two rounds of judging in September when we showcase the entries individually choreographed and placed within their magical theatrical worlds on stage at the TSB Arena in Wellington, where they will take on a new life in movement,” says Heather.
This year the 115 finalist designers were presented with six design challenges, which subsequently form the six worlds of the stage show. Three of these worlds are recurring – Aotearoa, Avant-garde and Open, and three are new for 2019 – Mythology, Transform and White.
WOW chief executive Gisella Carr says alongside the many talented New Zealand designers, the 2019 show has seen entrants hailing from all corners of the globe including Kazakhstan, Czechia and Belarus alongside regular contributing countries such as Australia, China, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Every year WOW receive more and more entries from around the globe, with 108 finalist garments from 22 countries and regions set to be on stage for this year's WOW awards show season.
'We are proud to have strategic relationships with tertiary institutions and designers around the world, and it is an honour to showcase their work on our stage.
'The creative team has been busy designing the show for the past eighteen months, creating six different worlds, and now they have the exciting job of working the finalist garments into the show for another show-stopping performance.
'This is when the magic happens and it's a joy to watch this unique collision of creativity come together.”
The first round of judging took place in Nelson over the weekend of July 5-7. This year's judges include WOW Founder and resident judge Dame Suzie Moncrieff, designer James Dobson of Jimmy D, and artist Gregor Kregar.
The judging panel will also be joined by fashion activist and celebrity stylist B. Akerlund, Sir Richard Taylor, CEO and creative director of Weta Workshop and Cirque du Soleil's creative intelligence team lead plus conceptrice Melissa Thompson.
The finalist garments will go through two more stages of the judging process, where they will be seen on stage with choreography, lighting and music ahead of opening night on September 26.
NEW ZEALAND FINALISTS
Auckland (9 finalist designers)
Ian Bernhard (two finalist entries)
Christopher Davis
Leanne Day
Lynne Dunphy
Carolyn Gibson
Judith Keith
Carmel Pollock
Shelley Scott (two finalist entries)
Jayne Boesley
Bay of Plenty (1 finalist designer)
Kerry Funnell
Palmerston North (1 finalist designers)
Jean Valentine
Hawkes Bay (3 finalist designers)
Keryn Whitney
Katherine Bertram
Adam Wade
Taranaki (1 finalist designer)
Sheela Stoneman
Waikato (4 finalist designers)
Lisa Vanin
Jill Benson
Jenny Jack
Sacha Mail
Wellington (16 finalist designers)
Anna Baines
Kayla Christensen
Stephanie Cossens
Lyndal Linton
Renee Louie
Zach McDonald-Wright, Marie Wright, Taralee Freeman (three finalist designers in a design team)
Ali Middleton
Dylan Mulder
Louisa Marie Paterson
Vicky Robertson
Jenny Sutton
Josiene Van Maarseveen
Daniella Sasvári, Aaron La Roche (two finalist designers in a design team)
Nelson (2 finalist designers)
Meg Latham
Mary Turner
Central Otago (3 finalist designers)
Carolyn Laing, Debbie Paton (two finalist designers in a design team)
Ruth Arkless
Canterbury (3 finalist designers)
Tina Hutchison-Thomas
Loretta Sloan
Autumn Minnear
INTERNATIONAL FINALISTS
Australia (14 finalist designers)
Kirsten Fletcher
Erica Gray (two finalist entries)
Felicity Rose Hardy
Ildy Izso
Lesley Marsh
Tara Morelos, Ahmad Mollahassani, Nelia Justo (three finalist designers in a design team)
R. R. Pascoe
Jill Perry
Nicola Rule
Hanna Smith
Michelle Wade
Svenja XX
Austria (1 finalist designer)
Gudrun Bartenberger-Geyer
Belarus (1 finalist designers)
Volha Sniazhko
China (10 finalist designers)
Guo Tianzi
Lyu Lu, Yiheng Gu (two finalist designers in a design team)
Sun Ye, Yuxin Miao, Jue Yuan (three finalist designers in a design team)
Wang Haiwei (two finalist entries)
Xu Ran
Qiongwen Zhang
Chen Bingrou
China (Hong Kong) (1 finalist designers)
Lam Hoi Man Kinki
Czechia (2 finalist designers)
Denisa Pubalová, Jenny Sternwaldova (two finalist designers in a design team)
France (1 finalist designer)
Marnie Arnoul
Germany (2 finalist designers)
Anto Christ, Casio Ono (two finalist designers in a design team)
India (5 finalist designers)
Ashish Dhaka, Sonika Khar (two finalist designers in a design team)
Akhilesh Gupta
Thingamla Adrianne Keishing
Shantanu Singh (two finalist entries)
Indonesia (1 finalist designer)
Rinaldy Yunardi (two finalist entries)
Ireland (1 finalist designers)
Monika Bogyos
Kazakhstan (2 finalist designers)
Bota Kirgizbayeva, Aya Kirgizbayeva (two finalist designers in a design team)
Netherlands (1 finalist designer)
Roosmarie Mittemeijer
Philippines (4 finalist designers)
Armando Rutaquio Jr, Jon Daniel Jasa, Charles David Almario (three finalist designers in a design team)
Russell Villafuerte
Poland (2 finalist designers)
Edyta Jermacz
Marcin Szłapka
Russian Federation (2 finalist designers)
Maria Amirova
Natalya Korneva
Singapore (2 finalist designers)
Dinh Hai Yen
Mihaleva Galina (two finalist entries)
Sweden (1 finalist designer)
Pavlo Blinov
Taiwan (7 finalist designers)
Cao Qian Yi, Pei-Hsin Lu (two finalist designers in a design team)
Chiu Yu-Chia
Chang Yi-Wei (two finalist entries)
Lin Zhi-Er
Yun Shan Lee
Zeng Ying-Syuan
United Kingdom (4 finalist designers)
Louise Byford
Louise Dyhrfort
Jack Irving (four finalist entries)
Anna von Hartitzsch
United States (8 finalist designers)
Lynn Christiansen
Grace DuVal
Natalia Fedner
Dawn Mostow, Ben Gould (two finalist designers in a design team)
Robert Reed
Nola Yergen, Brian Lapham (two finalist designers in a design team)
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