Digi Maori T shirt designer to show at NZ Fashion Awards

Kereama Taepa has a futuristic approach to fashion and design.

The Waiariki Institute of Technology photography and graphic design tutor came first-equal for his DIGI Maori T-shirt designs at the Miromoda Indigenous Fashion Apparel Board (MIFAB) Fashion Design Awards in Wellington. The win will see him showing at the New Zealand Fashion Awards for the second year running. He earned a spot last year when he came runner-up at the indigenous awards.

"I currently have two T-shirts ready to show during Fashion Week [2011] but I am working on the development of an entire line," Mr Taepa said.

His DIGI Maori fashion collection uses cutting edge Augmented Reality software to project digitally enhanced designs on clothing.

"I am excited to bring this medium to a public domain," he said.

"The Augmented Reality software picks up markers on the original T-shirt design through digital media like live video recording and digital cameras," he said.

The markers and designs were visible only through digital devices.

He describes the software as an overlaying mixture of real and virtual worlds.

Mr Taepa said creating the DIGI Maori collection had been a long process.

"Every step in the process takes a couple of days.

"It is not just the actual T-shirt design you are dealing with, but the three-dimensional and technical side of the design concept."

The DIGI Maori T-shirts are part of Mr Taepa's Urban Maori fashion line which he said fused traditional Maori art concepts with contemporary design.

Mr Taepa began his urban Maori line four years ago as a way to express his own thoughts and opinions through art.

The indigenous fashion board, founded in 2008, is dedicated to developing the quality of Maori fashion design and promoting artistic and professional standards in Maori fashion media.