{"id":15357,"date":"2026-03-26T12:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/winners-of-the-design-a-bag-2026-announced\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:35:18","slug":"winners-of-the-design-a-bag-2026-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/winners-of-the-design-a-bag-2026-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners of the \u201cDesign-a-Bag\u201d 2026 announced"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As is tradition, the Design-A-Bag 2026 competition concluded with the final awards ceremony on March 12 during APLF 2026 in Hong Kong. The jury crowned Phan Nguyen Hoai Thuong, from Vietnam, the overall winner for her inspiring and versatile creation, \u201cThe Unbowed Bag,\u201d a symbol of resilience in chaos that represents strength, composure, and an indomitable spirit.
Hoai Thuong is a design student at Hoa Sen University, and \u201cThe Unbowed Bag\u201d is actually her very first project, making her achievement all the more incredible.
The prize includes a 4-week course in Collection Development at the Arsutoria School in Milan, valued at 4,500 euros, along with a 1,000-euro contribution toward housing.
Second place went to Zhuo Wei Si from China for her practical and functional creation, called \u201cBerlin Bag.\u201d Zhuo Wei Si will receive an 8-day training course at Simona Tanning\u2019s L.E.A.T.H.E.R Academy in Ninh Binh, Vietnam.
Third place went to Nilgun Demirhan from Turkey for her innovative yoga bag, a project titled \u201cBELONGING.\u201d With her talent and creativity, she designed a bag that perfectly blends athleisure style with her lifestyle.
All three finalists will receive a cash prize of $500 and a one-year subscription to www.arstrends.com and the \u201cARSUTORIASTUDIO\u201d Trends Guide, valued at $550.<\/p>\n

This year’s competition benefited from a carefully curated judging panel that brought together diverse perspectives from across the fashion and leather industry. Each judge evaluated the entries through a unique lens, ensuring a comprehensive, versatile and balanced assessment. This multifaceted approach elevated the standard of judging and provided invaluable insights for all participants.
* Mr. Olivier Vedrine, Architect-Designer & Production Designer of OO Agency Paris: Bringing a designer’s eye for creativity and artistic vision
* Mr. Stefano Migliavacca, International Projects Manager of Edizioni AF: Representing media expertise with a focus on innovation and industry trends
* Ms. Alane Becker Marder, Head of Marketing & Sustainability of Simona Tanning: Offering a tannery perspective on practicality, quality, and sustainability
* Mr. Ard-ong Winyoopradist,  Director and CMO, Xotique Company Limited: Providing brand owner insights on marketability and commercial viability<\/p>\n

Registration for DAB 2027 will open in September of this year.
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The three finalists and the judges of the Design a Bag 2026 Competition at the awards ceremony during APLF on March 12<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The project that won first prize, by Phan Nguyen Hoai Thuong of Vietnam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The design by Berlin Bag, which took second place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Third place went to Nilgun Demirhan for her innovative yoga bag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Cogon Bag won the Facebook Award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young designer from Vietnam wins first prize<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company-news-arsutoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsutoriastudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}