Press Release
Ayla Bag by Liam Huff Wins the A' Design Award in Fashion and Travel Accessories Design
Liam Huff acknowledged for fashion and travel accessories design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the A' Design Award in the Fashion and Travel Accessories Design category for Ayla Bag by Liam Huff, designed for Rochester Institute of Technology. The award was conferred within the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the A' Design Award Means
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
About Ayla Bag
Ayla is a modular leather tote bag designed to last through multiple product life cycles. The bag is built from replaceable leather panels held together by detachable brass hinges, so no stitching is required. Each panel is placed between an outer hinge and an inner plate, then secured with pins and screws. A damaged panel can be replaced without discarding the whole bag. Predetermined patterns allow a salvaged panel to be remade into a smaller clutch. Full disassembly supports repair and reuse at the end of life.
About Liam Huff
I am a designer in pursuit of unorthodox perfection. I am committed to creating objects that not only remedy everyday problems, but cultivate individual expression. Driven by an innate necessity to create and leave the world more phenomenal, I use design as a medium to enhance the distinct exceptionality within us all.
Award Record
With this recognition, Liam Huff is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Fashion and Travel Accessories Design Award
The A' Accessory Design Award is an international fashion design competition recognizing good accessory designs by leading designers and brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to accessory designers, fashion designers, travel accessory designers and luxury goods manufacturers from all countries. Entries typically include handbags, scarves, belts, luggage, hats and travel bags. Awarded accessory designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/accessory
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/167955
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/167955
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!167955
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/364428
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://scotthuff.com/ayla
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Ayla Bag
- Function
- Bag
- Category
- Fashion and Travel Accessories Design
- Discipline
- Fashion Design
- Industry
- Fashion and Luxury
- Colors
- Black, Dark Slate Gray, Tan, Gainsboro and Dark Olive Green
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Rochester Institute of Technology
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Liam Huff
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #167955
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer Elizabeth Lemark, AYLA_1_3600.jpg, 2024.; Photographer Chelsea Cohen, AYLA_MAIN_1800.jpg, 2024.; Photographer Chelsea Cohen, AYLA_2.jpg, 2024.; Photographer Elizabeth Lemark, AYLA_3.jpg, 2024.; Photographer, Sneha Yalgi, AYLA_5.jpg, 2024
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Modular and transformable leather panels along with detachable hinges allow Ayla to last multiple product life cycles. The detachable hinge facilitates ease of repair when the product gets damaged. Simply undo the hinge and replace the damaged leather panel, eliminating the need to throw away the entire product. The ability to fully disassemble the product allows for an environmentally friendly end-of-life with the ability to either repair or transform old leather panels into new products.
- Inspiration
- Leather is one of the most polluting sectors within fashion. Most leather products contribute to the idea of take-make-waste. Reducing environmental impact is not as simple as switching to a leather alternative. Almost all alternatives are polymer based and cannot match traditional leather's longevity. If farmed regeneratively, used as meat industry byproduct, and, if able to be used multiple times, leather can be sustainable. Ayla explores how we can use leather to its maximum potential.
- Research
- I started with database research to determine opportunities to reduce waste. I interviewed 4 professionals in the fashion accessories industry. I used these two methods to inform my hinge mechanism. For product look and feel, I used a survey to determine bag silhouette, mood boards to determine detail and target audience, triading to determine desired look, narrative scenarios to determine how the bag would be used, and user interviews to ultimately hone in on a final design direction.
- Challenge
- The hardest part of this project was finding the perfect intersection of functionality/sustainability and desired look. I determined through my research that my target audience wanted a product that had sustainable attributes but looked no different from a traditional bag. I could achieve the desired function but not in an aesthetic that was appealing to my audience. Through many rounds of prototypes and interviews, I came to a final mechanism that satisfied both ends.
- Realization and Technology
- Experimenting with multiple 3D printed components, I focused on exploring ways to attach leather panels without the use of stitching. I landed on a pin system. Leather panels are sandwiched between an outer hinge and an inner plate. The panels are secured atop the pins and then anchored with a series of screws. With these hinges, everything from the handle, to the main body, to the interior can be replaced. Final hinges were made of polished brass to ensure longevity with extended ware.
- Operation and Interaction
- The detachable nature of the metal hinge allows for components within the product to be interchanged when damage occurs. If one side of the product gets damaged, simply replace that panel, not the entire item; this reduces wastage. Additionally, the main leather panels were designed to be turned into a different, smaller product if only one panel can be salvaged. Predetermined patterns ensure that one panel can be turned into a smaller clutch, further reducing the waste of the item.
- Project Duration and Location
- Started in August of 2023 at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, USA. and finished in May of 2024 in Rochester, New York, USA.
- Specifications
- 460 mm x 100 mm x 330 mm
- Keywords
- Bag, Leather, Sustainable, Hardware, Interchangeable, Replaceable, Tote, Modular Panels, Transformable
