A category winner in this year's World of Wearable Art (WOW)has withdrawn her entry after it was found to resemble another work.
Auckland designer Bernise Milliken won the sustainability award for her piece, Grandeer, made from tea towels, doilies and beads.
Bernise Milliken said any similarities between her Grandeer design and another was "unintentional". Photo: Youtube / WelTec
In a statement, WOW's chief executive, Gisella Carr, said Ms Milliken had withdrawn her entry and the award had been given to the runner up Christina Uebelein, from the US.
She said all designers signed terms and conditions attesting to the originality of their work, and citing any influences, as part of the entry process.
RNZ understands Ms Milliken was sent a picture of a similar design before she withdrew her entry, but the design hadn't featured in an earlier awards show.
Ms Milliken didn't want to talk to RNZ, saying it was an "awful, horrible situation" and any similarities between the works were "unintentional."
When she won, Ms Milliken told the New Zealand Herald while deer were majestic creatures, their numbers needed to be controlled or they would pose a serious threat to the country's flora and fauna.
"Materials used are from some memories of things that I actually disliked when I was a child, NZ tea towels and the doily (which I like now) and the image of a deer sand-blasted on the glass doors of my uncle's house (which I still hate, but makes me smile). I used the tea towels and doilies and the glass beads to represent the glass door in the design," she told the newspaper.
It is not the first time WOW has dealt with such issues.
In 2012, Wellington designer Paula Rowan and winner of the People's Choice Award, surrendered $1000 prize money and voluntarily withdrew her creation, Velluto Rosso, after it was found to be very similar to Vladimir Kush's oil painting Red Purse.
At the time WOW said it was the first time there had been a "copyright issue" with an entry.
Ms Carr said Ms Milliken was free to enter the competition again if she wished.
