Giant wings open to reveal pieces of light-as-feather bamboo plywood, each one printed with photographs and held together with simple twine stitching.

The creation by David Trubridge and team was unveiled on the last night of this year’s World of WearableArt, and is a collaboration between the award-winning design studio, Brancott Estate Wines and the New Zealand public. It is also the first crowd-sourced piece shown at WOW.

The story of the artwork begins with David inviting Kiwis to submit photos of their ‘firsts’, as a way to include his fellow countrymen and women in the design. The project was met with hundreds of people sharing their memories, from first car to first house, and even first monogrammed Louis Vuitton bag. 

Six weeks and 511 photos later, the finished piece was unveiled. 

David says inspiration of the artwork’s form comes from “the vision of a bird about to take flight on its first, epic journey.”

I was particularly inspired by the first flight of gannets, those gangly awkward chicks which are brought up into the nests on the land and gradually inch their way to the edge of the cliff as they become older and more confident. 

Then finally, at the last moment, they spread their wings and they take off into the abyss underneath, and they don’t stop flying until they get to Australia. That, to me, is an awesome first experience.

Watch the creation unfold below.