Established jewellery designer and Curtin University graduate, Alister Yiap, has taken out the 18th Annual Western Australian Fashion Award for the Fine Details category.<\/p>\n
The Canning Vale resident \u2013 also a winner of the award in 2010 \u2013 won for his Band of Gold collection, the latest of which hit the runway at the 2013 Perth Fashion Festival.<\/p>\n
Seeking to pioneer the way for accessories and jewellery on the catwalk, Mr Yiap\u2019s most recent collection explores the elegant and lavish potential of jewellery through artistic interpretation.<\/p>\n
All the pieces in the collection are handmade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Mr Yiap said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy pieces have always had a sculptural element to them and I\u2019ve recently expanded my practice to include larger scale works for public art, so I\u2019d say I\u2019m at a transformative stage in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Eight of Diamonds project was a follow-on from a collaboration with seven other WA designers to create pendants showcasing popular diamond shapes.<\/p>\n
The designer plans to engage in public art projects and private commissions in the near future and will also be exhibiting in the \u201cFashion[ing] Forms; the craft of making\u201d exhibition at this year\u2019s Perth Fashion Festival.<\/p>\n