The 2013 JanSport Pilipinas Bag
Fine Arts graduate Alyssa de Asis wins this year’s design competition.
JanSport, the original outdoor gear brand that equips people globally with quality backpacks, travel gear, and collegiate apparel recently launched an effort that once again inspired young Filipinos to express their creativity through art and design.
Aptly titled, Made to Celebrate: Design the 2013 JanSport Pilipinas Bag Competition, the contest is one among the many efforts made by JanSport to nurture the creative community not only through its exceptional products but by hosting events and engaging activities as well.
The competition commenced last August 2012 where over 300 entries were received from young Filipino artists all over the country. Revolving around the theme of Philippine festivals, the participants were asked to showcase the culture of our native festivals through a unique design for a JanSport pack.
Alyssa de Asis, a Fine Arts major who graduated earlier this year from St. Scholastica’s College Manila emerged as this design competition’s victor.
The result of Alyssa’s brainstorming is a unique design that perfectly encapsulated the themes of the Filipino festivals without being overwhelming – a feat that not only required talent and skill but research work as well. The design bore strong influences from the Masskara festival, Giant Lantern festival, and the Flower festival, while the rest of the details were reminiscent of patterns used by ethnic performers.
She explains, “I chose specific festivals that I thought would be fun and colorful to illustrate, ones that would represent the liveliness of our festivals. I also gathered inspiration from patterns of clothes that were worn on different festivals to incorporate the local ethnic designs.”
Although difficult and challenging, Alyssa mentioned that she focused on making a pattern that would incorporate all the different festivals. She chose a vivid color palette to naturally emphasize the vibrant celebrations that are teeming with life.
This is the second JanSport Pilipinas bag to be launched, following the one released last 2010. Apart from Alyssa, two promising young artists also received recognition. Joshua Masa, a recent high school graduate from Saint Louis College placed second, while Hannah del Moral, another Fine Arts student from UST came in third place.
JanSport strongly believes in creativity and passion of today’s youth. Through events such as this, the young Filipinos are reminded of this truth and they are inspired to express their ideas.
In the inspired words of Alyssa, “simply continue to do what you love and what you want, and put your works out there.” she adds, “Experiment, stay determined and passionate.”
The JanSport Pilipinas bag is available in Bratpack, The Travel Club, SM Department Stores, Landmark, DFP Sportmart, Gaisano malls, and R.O.X. JanSport is exclusively distributed in the Philippines by the Primer Group of Companies, Asia’s next retail giant.