We can proudly declare that once again one of our latex designs won at WOW. But this time, Ben and I won the top prize at the 2025 World of WearableArt (WOW) Awards, with our Tsukumogami taking home the competition’s Supreme WOW Award.
Yes, we have been regular finalists since 2017 at WOW, achieving eight finalist entries, five of them Ben and I creating together, honored and humbled when taking home each award. But this time we took home the biggest honor, and quite frankly we can’t stop smiling!
Our Tsukumogami is an intricate latex re-imagining of two centuries-old blue ceramic vases imbued with live spirit, crowned by blue and white ikebana flower sculptures. The WOW Competition judges described it as a blend of past and future, “…radically innovative and future forward, while at the same time paying exquisite homage to centuries-old artistic and cultural traditions. A work that captivates the eye and refuses to let it go.”
As lots of what I design for Dawnamatrix (see our latex kimonos), the idea for our entry came to from my time living in Japan. Ben and I were inspired by the Japanese belief that objects can be imbued with spirit after centuries of use and especially fascinated by the Japanese practice of kintsugi; repairing broken ceramics with golden seams to create objects with greater value than the original.
Bringing our latex design to life this year was a singular privilege, as it often is seeing something you dream become reality. But winning the Supreme WOW Award, is recognition on a whole other level.
This year’s Supreme WOW Award winner was selected from 85 finalist entries created by 100 designers from 17 countries, competing for a prize pool of over $200,000, across 25 awards. In our next blog I will delve deeper into those finalists and the competition and show in general.
Thank you, WOW!
