Designer has second work nominated

Daniella Markovits says it's a good feeling to have two designs accepted into the WOW awards.

Mrs Markovits' Biohazard design was accepted this year and last year her Timeless Balance design was accepted for the Tourism New Zealand Avant Garde section of the awards.

Next month is the first anniversary of the death of Mrs Markovits' husband, Peter, and she said Biohazard was a cathartic piece that contained many elements, including grief.

But a trip with daughter Dora to the doctor, where she saw the Biohazard logo, helped the industrial designer plan her WOW costume.

The judges marked Biohazard: "An independent, strong-minded woman can be equally as dangerous as the bird flu."

Her 2008 costume, New Zealand in my Eyes, was not placed but can be seen at the Whanganui Museum.

Mrs Markovits says she is more an artist than a fashion designer and her WOW costumes are the only connection to her theatrical past.

She came to New Zealand from Hungary four years ago with Peter and their two children, Jabor (7) and Dora (6) and settled in Aramoho.

Mrs Markovits is a designer for Kooky Garments and is also learning a new skill in pattern grading for the company, a huge credit for her to obtain citizenship in New Zealand, she said.

They were "strangers no more" in this part of the world and the family liked Wanganui, where she and the children had made new friends.