Local artist Carin van Grunsven is a finalist in this year’s Australian Wearable Art Festival (AWAF) with her design “Queen of the Ocean”.
Her design combines the beauty of the ocean with a message to reduce plastic waste and live sustainably.
Can you provide an overview of the event and what inspired you to enter it?
The Australian Wearable Art Festival (AWAF) is a yearly event held in the Sunshine Coast that provides a platform for artists and designers to embrace a unique and exciting opportunity to combine art and fashion with using a variety of eclectic materials and sculpt these into a wearable garments.
The garments merge materials in weird and wonderful combinations where art, science, fashion and technology all collide.
For me that means combining unusual fabrics with innovation and sustainability into one.
I decided to enter a design “Queen of the Ocean” that reflects the beauty of ocean, marine life and coral sea creatures of the great barrier reef, all in a flowing yet sculpted garment that portraits the local barrier reef environment and its threats of plastic impacting on this.
Using punctured pool inflatables as my trademark in my local business PLOYS where I make accessories from PVC waste.
This entry combines art and sustainability from Float to Fashion, with the message to reduce plastic waste and live sustainably.
Having created bags purses and the occasional piece of clothing made from punctured pool inflatables, saw me being involved in the Brisbane Fashion Festival last year with a contribution entry of a handbag made from pool inflatables for the Do-Op shop.
This experience inspired me to look into the AWAF to take my designs to the next level.
Attending the Wearable Arts evening at BRAG in November last year, hearing more about AWAF gave me the confidence to apply and enter my designs for the Wearable Arts Festival.
It was fabulous to hear I made it through to the finals and now I am busy with making my design into reality and creating my garment based on the submitted designs.
It is an exciting yet daunting process to now undertake the task oif making the garment especially seeing the fantastic designs from last years festival!
My entry has been accepted under the Trashion section and as Emerging Designer and next to using pool inflatables as my main ‘trashion’ material I am combining this with hundreds soy sauce fishies, hand painted as replicas of tropical fish along our coast.
These plastic materials (PVC and soy fish) are both known to have a negative impact on our environment with creating plastic waste which cannot be recycled through mainstream recycling processes.
Using these plastics in a Wearable Arts piece shows the public the impact of waste on our oceans and marine life while also showing its creative reuse and upcycling.
Are there any local businesses or organisations partnering with you for this event?
With the event I was keen to reach out to the community and other local artists and I have been blessed to collaborate with CHELSEA Music by Chelsea Stutchbury who is a local vocalist, composer and Doctor of Musical Arts candidate.
Her music is inspired by soundtracks and music genres of all kinds, featuring ethereal vocal textures and ambient instrumentals that perfectly fitted my design.
Chelsea provided me with a unique music piece that will accompany the presentation of my Trashion garment on the runway.
My garment will be shown by a Sunshine Coast professional model who with set chorography, will transform into a Queen of the Ocean against dramatic lighting effects amongst the other entries in the sections of Avant Garde, Elements of Nature and Abstract Form.
How can attendees stay updated on announcements related to the event?
Updates on the AWAF event and sneak peaks of my design can be found on my Ploysdesign Instagram and Facebook accounts.
More information on PLOYS and my sustainable accessories made from punctured pool inflatables can be found at ploys.com.au
PLOYS’ products can be bought via the website or locally at BRAG shop or Greena Future.
Event details:
Date: 8 to 9 August 2025
Location: 114 Sportsman Parade, Bokarina Australia
Price: Prices vary
Tickets: Click here
