About
The Edible Fashion Awards is a spectacular wearable art event celebrating Hawke’s Bay’s innovative creative spirit and our rich history as a quality food producing region.
Each year up to 300 designers create fascinating works of wearable art from food, imitation food or food packaging. Following a day of preliminary judging, in which all entrants have the opportunity to showcase their creations on the runway, a panel of accomplished New Zealand judges select finalists to be part of the public show.
Stunning designs intertwined with quality entertainment from across New Zealand, makes the Edible Fashion Awards a unique, exciting and much-talked-about night out and a highlight of the Hawke’s Bay event calendar.
Hastings Art & Culture Trust
In 1994 Mayor Jeremy Dwyer established the Trust (originally the Hawke’s Bay Springfest Trust then the Hastings Blossom Festival Trust) to recommence the Hastings Blossom Festival after a period of inactivity. The Blossom Festival, featuring a parade of floats intricately decorated with real or artificial blossoms, was created in 1950 to encourage community spirit, celebrate the beginning of the fruit-growing season and attract visitors to the region.
Subsequently, the running of the annual Blossom Festival was taken over by Creative Hastings, now Arts Inc. Heretaunga. The Trust was renamed the Hastings Art & Culture Trust and took over the management of the Edible Fashion Awards, which had been created and previously produced by the Hastings Business Association.
Current Hastings Art & Culture Trust Board
Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst (Chair), Daniel Betty, Derek Burns, Pitsch Leiser
Judges
Each year we bring together a panel of expert judges from across New Zealand. Past judges have included leading New Zealand designers and fashion gurus, a Masterchef judge, multiple World of WearableArt (WOW) winners, an international fashion model, Weta Workshop collaborators, award-winning photographers and TV personalities.
Meet our 2019 judging panel…
Head Judge
Kate MacKenzie is a surrealist painter and wearable arts designer. She has received 5 special awards at the international World of WearableArt competition (WOW), including the Supreme WOW Award winner in 2014. Her paintings are held in private and public collections internationally and she has been a finalist for the New Zealand Adam Portraiture Awards, Hawkes Bay Review and EAST Art Awards to name a few. Her surreal portraits amongst landscapes are inspired by Aotearoa, and changing paradigms in societal beliefs and mindsets. Her work often illustrates the journey towards environmental awareness with subtle reference to changing technology.
Kate MacKenzie is a surrealist painter and wearable arts designer. She has received 5 special awards at the international World of WearableArt competition (WOW), including the Supreme WOW Award winner in 2014. Her paintings are held in private and public collections internationally and she has been a finalist for the New Zealand Adam Portraiture Awards, Hawkes Bay Review and EAST Art Awards to name a few. Her surreal portraits amongst landscapes are inspired by Aotearoa, and changing paradigms in societal beliefs and mindsets. Her work often illustrates the journey towards environmental awareness with subtle reference to changing technology.
Judge
Born in Niigata, Japan, Masayuki Ohashi is currently based in Wellington, where he has worked in the movie industry since 2011. Masa works at Weta Workshop alongside the talented team in the sculpting department. He specializes in large scale sculpture work, having recently completed work on some of the 1:2.4 scale figures in the Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibition at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. His other work includes the Wellington Airport “Gollum” installation (3m x 13m) and film/television production including ‘Thunderbirds are go!’ and ‘The Hobbit Trilogy’. Being predominantly self taught, Masa draws inspiration from the natural world. He is passionate about capturing the delicacy of form and creating a sense of dynamic movement in a static medium. The handmade quality is important to his work and gives his sculptures a soul and energy that is accomplished in the tactile methods he has attuned and developed.
Born in Niigata, Japan, Masayuki Ohashi is currently based in Wellington, where he has worked in the movie industry since 2011. Masa works at Weta Workshop alongside the talented team in the sculpting department. He specializes in large scale sculpture work, having recently completed work on some of the 1:2.4 scale figures in the Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibition at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. His other work includes the Wellington Airport “Gollum” installation (3m x 13m) and film/television production including ‘Thunderbirds are go!’ and ‘The Hobbit Trilogy’. Being predominantly self taught, Masa draws inspiration from the natural world. He is passionate about capturing the delicacy of form and creating a sense of dynamic movement in a static medium. The handmade quality is important to his work and gives his sculptures a soul and energy that is accomplished in the tactile methods he has attuned and developed.
Judge
Born and raised in Hastings, Misty Ratima has Iwi affiliations to Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine, Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Hine.
After a stint of raising her family in Auckland, Misty returned to study at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier where she gained two Bachelor Degrees in Māori and Visual Arts and Design. Her career focus became clear as a result and she is now an active part of the revitalisation of te reo Māori through teaching and has started her own fashion label ‘Te Kohu’, which encompasses cultural concepts and Māori narratives.
Over two consecutive years, Misty won the Supreme Award for the Indigenous Fashion Design Competition, Miromoda in 2017 and 2018. This accomplishment saw her showcase collections at New Zealand Fashion Week during both years. Misty was also featured as a contestant on the reality TV series Project Runway New Zealand. These opportunities within the fashion industry have given her a wealth of experience.
Misty currently resides in Auckland and manages to keep an even balance of teaching te reo Māori for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and running her fashion design label from home.
Born and raised in Hastings, Misty Ratima has Iwi affiliations to Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine, Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Hine.
After a stint of raising her family in Auckland, Misty returned to study at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier where she gained two Bachelor Degrees in Māori and Visual Arts and Design. Her career focus became clear as a result and she is now an active part of the revitalisation of te reo Māori through teaching and has started her own fashion label ‘Te Kohu’, which encompasses cultural concepts and Māori narratives.
Over two consecutive years, Misty won the Supreme Award for the Indigenous Fashion Design Competition, Miromoda in 2017 and 2018. This accomplishment saw her showcase collections at New Zealand Fashion Week during both years. Misty was also featured as a contestant on the reality TV series Project Runway New Zealand. These opportunities within the fashion industry have given her a wealth of experience.
Misty currently resides in Auckland and manages to keep an even balance of teaching te reo Māori for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and running her fashion design label from home.
Open Category Judges
Unio Goldsmith & Gallery Jewellery & Accessory Award – Bruce Jackson
Keep Hastings Beautiful Award – Adam Green
indulge Top Model Award – Vania Bailey
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