Taiwanese fashion designer Johan Ku (古又文), who won a top prize in this year’s Gen Art’s Styles International Design Competition, is planning to return to Taiwan this month for a solo show of his designs.
Ku said he plans to show to the Taiwanese public 10 works he has created in recent years in “sculpture-like” knitwear.
“Nothing is final yet, but I hope the presentation can take place at Eslite Books’ Dunnan Store in eastern Taipei City,” Ku said during a dinner hosted in his honor by Taiwan’s representative in New York, Kao Chen-chun (高振群).
PHOTO: CNA
Ku, owner of the Johan Ku Design Studio, recently won the top prize in the avant-garde design category of the Gen Art’s Styles International Design Competition, a major fashion design competition in the US for emerging talent.
He won the prestigious prize with one of his 2004 designs — a knitted series that highlights the versatility of yarn and has creative patterns.
The 30-year-old attended the award ceremony in Manhattan on Wednesday before flying back to London on Saturday, where he is pursuing postgraduate art studies at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
During the dinner, Ku recounted how he managed to complete his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in fashion design at two universities in Taiwan after graduating from vocational high school, and how he stuck to his guns to pursue what he really wanted.
Ku also said how impressed he had been by the help given to young designers in Europe and the US and said Taiwan should also provide assistance to young people seeking to make their mark in creative industries.
“Taiwan has no lack of creative talent willing to work hard,” Ku said.
Regarding his planned presentation in Taipei, set to take place in the middle of this month, Ku expressed hope that entrepreneurs would want to buy his works, which would allow him to raise funds to continue creating more designs or to establish his own brand.
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