The Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize awarded $500 and coverage in Trend Tablet to textile or fashion design student who exhibited innovative thinking and inspiring creativity in textiles. The prize honors Dorothy Waxman, the driving force behind visionary publications Trend Union and Edelkoort Inc. in the United States and contributing reporter to the magazines View on Colour, Textile View and Viewpoint. Here are some of our favorite finalists. Check out the full coverage here. 

PIERO D’ANGELO hails from Italy and studies at Central Saint Martins, London. He describes his project Hybrid, seen above as such: “I weaved my samples mostly with polyester threads combining fleshy colours with others bold and industrial, recycling plastic threads, wire, ropes and incorporating cables found in the computer…” We love how he transforms the humble traditional rag rug  into a woven collage of the parts that make up our modern synthetic world of wires, connectivity and computing.

MARIA KAZAKOVA from the U.S. goes to Parsons, The New School for Design, and describes her work like this: “I seek to reestablish ‘ethnics’ in a contemporary way, reconnecting people to the knowledge of the past and promoting hand skills and craftsmanship. Bringing ethnicity out of its costume status, to make it desirable, elevating the value of craft, clothes and materials. I want to rebuild the power and pride of formerly oppressed communities by developing traditional skills and creating employment. Craft empowers people and brings souls back through making.”  Technique include  mixed media including crystals, plastic bags, mirrors, stones, newspapers & organza.

KATHERINE MAVRIDIS from Australia also attends Parsons in New York and describes this project as such: “For Mokuba, I developed a technique of coiling rope into fully fashioned three-dimensional garments which resemble a knitted construction. This graduate collection is currently on show at the Parsons graduation show in Manhattan.”

Check out the other finalists and the actual winner of the prize here!

-Claudia Brown