Double life

While Victoria University graduate Troy Stade's main focus is continuing his studies in law and international relations, his family's passion for design provides an outlet for his creative side.

Together with his parents, Martin de Ruyter and Karen Stade, Troy entered The Art of New York—a dress crafted from 11,000 pieces of stained glass created from 2,000 mobile phone photos of New York City—in this year’s World of WearableArt Awards (WOW).

Troy says his father got the idea to make a dress out of photos after seeing the shiny curves of the 8 Spruce St building in New York, while on a double decker bus tour of the city in 2015. The dress took 500 hours to make over a six month period, and was a finalist in WOW’s Avant-Garde category.

This is the second time Troy’s Nelson-based family has entered the competition, and as long-standing supporters of WOW, they have been to every show since the event began.

After graduating from Victoria with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in Japanese and International Relations, Troy says having a creative outlet is really useful—but he has never considered becoming a full-time designer. Having just been admitted to the New Zealand Bar, he is now on his way to Tokyo University to study Law and International Relations in the University’s prestigious Graduate School of Frontier Sciences.

Troy is one of only five New Zealanders to be awarded a Monbukagakusho (MEXT) scholarship this year by the Japanese Government.

“The process involved in applying for the scholarship wasn’t for the faint hearted,” says Troy. “There were the usual academic and character references, but also full medical tests ranging from blood tests to heart and lung scans, a three hour exam in Japanese and English, as well as an interview with a Japanese consular panel,” he says.

It was also up to Troy to secure a placement to a university and the supervision of a Professor, and it was not until this point that the Japanese Embassy granted him the scholarship.

With a particular interest in climate change, Troy hopes to study the reactions of countries such as China, Korea and Russia, to Japan’s commitment to helping other nations deal with climate change.