Filipino designers Neil Capistrano and Mark Boni Marter of fashion brand Neil & Marter have made another history as the first Filipinos to win the International Design-A-Bag (DAB) Competition held at the Dubai World Trade Center in the United Arab Emirates, on March 31.
The Amara Bag, Capistrano and Marter’s winning piece, is a circular bag that can be folded into a semi-circle bag using a design inspired by the critically endangered species of Mindoro dwarf buffalo known as Tamaraw which is endemic only to the Philippines.
Declared as the overall winner during the final judging event of the 2022 edition of the only global bag design competition for freelance designers and designs students, the world-class creations of the Quezon City-based fashion brand Neil & Marter Amara Circular bag is made out of leather oddments and other material which aims to make a statement through sustainable fashion.
Perfectly styled, the part with the color blue in the Amara Handbag represents the feeling of security and creativity while optimism and positivity is what the yellow color represents. Merged together, the creative piece with two colors symbolizes “Our hopes for the Tamaraws to strive and survive.”
On Neil & Marter’s official Facebook page, the team shared the inspiration behind their victory of winning the prestigious competition saying “our vision for this concept is to be an eye-opener. Fashion, design, and the arts can be used to spread message and awareness, especially in environmental issues.”
They also added that “Along with the inspiration is our sustainability in fashion advocacy. The Fashion & Textile industry is one of the biggest contributors to waste. That is why we used remnants and off-cuts of genuine leathers to create this bag, to honor these leathers for they also once had life, and making this bag completely out of it… We are giving life and meaning again to the leathers that were left out.”
The 15-year-old Design-A-Bag (DAB) Competition is part of a collaboration between Fashion Access and the APLF. The annual Fashion Access trade expo brings together a global design community, this time with a unique edition in Dubai. Designers may show off their work to the public and exchange design ideas with people from all over the world.
Source: https://www.designaccess-fa.com/2022-2/
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/neilmarter/photos/pcb.1386645705130920/1386633428465481
