In our final Designer Spotlight, staff writer Sarah Dabby chats with maker-artist Alex Glowaski to discuss brainwave-reactive headsets, internet-enabled pieces, and her huge dreams for Hot Couture and beyond. She will be showing two pieces at The Crucible's Hot Couture: A Fusion of Fashion and Fire on January 11-12, 2013.

Photos courtesy of Heather Wakefield.

Heather Wakefield has been sewing things since she was a child. It really does not take much to get her going creatively and she describes her studio, Satellite Art Station, as “a large, timeless, magical place with all kinds of fun little bits and fragments in it where it's easy to lose a day or a week.”  There she teaches classes and does custom couture, graphic design and photo portraiture.

She has studied modern dance and ritual fire dance and performance art theater became a passion which translated into four outfits that will be showcased at Hot Couture 2013.

Photos courtesy of Annamarta Dostourian.

Annamarta Dostourian is an artist and designer based in Berkeley, California. Her multimedia works explore the complexities of overlapping cultural identities; of being both Armenian and American. Most recently she’s been knitting, crocheting, and weaving metal jewelers’ wire into unusual forms and couture onto which light or images are projected, creating shadows which are intricate parts of the sculptures and installations. This delicate media allows expression of her sense of subtle realms of light and space.

Photo courtesy of Coyote Counter Collective.

Coyote Counter Collective is a cooperative art and design space in North Oakland formed by group of artists banded together to re-imagine structures on their own terms. The corner storefront is equal parts gallery, boutique, studio workspace, garment re-construction factory, style hub, and general one- stop waypoint for cultural re-fitting.

For Hot Couture 2013, Coyote developed a conceptual collection of smart garments with an eye towards integrating some of the newest technologies out there with some of the oldest.