Press Release
Barebag Series Fashionable Prosthetics by Ke Zheng and Shuhao Xuanyuan Wins the Silver A' Design Award in Fashion and Travel Accessories Design
Ke Zheng and Shuhao Xuanyuan acknowledged for fashion and travel accessories design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 24, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Fashion and Travel Accessories Design category for Barebag Series Fashionable Prosthetics by Ke Zheng and Shuhao Xuanyuan, designed for BareBag. The award was conferred within the 2023 - 2024 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 Silver A' Design Award Means
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About Barebag Series Fashionable Prosthetics
BareBag is a series of wearable accessories for people with limited use of their arms or hands, like those who've had an injury or amputation. BareBag's innovatively engineered anti-swing hook imperceptibly integrates into a fashion accessory, allowing users to hang any bag right at their waist without using their hands. Its ButterSlide technology also enables users to adjust the strap with just one hand effortlessly. BareBag is designed to make life easier for anyone who needs their hands free, offering a smart way to boost independence and improve the quality of life for its users.
About Ke Zheng and Shuhao Xuanyuan
BareBag creates fashion accessories that engineered to improve the life qualities of the disabled. BareBag’s mission is to promote empathy and equity in the most subtle, but effective ways. BareBag’s products are universal that appeals also to the non-disabled. it blends into the daily lives of any person and encourages the users to confidently embrace their identities.
Award Record
Ke Zheng and Shuhao Xuanyuan is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
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. It 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. Typical entries include handbags, scarves, belts, luggage, hats and travel bags. The awarded accessory designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/accessory
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is 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. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously 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. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which 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, uploading a work and receiving a 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. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/160037
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/160037
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!160037
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/351012
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
- Barebag Series Fashionable Prosthetics
- Function
- Fashionable Prosthetics
- Category
- Fashion and Travel Accessories Design
- Discipline
- Fashion Design
- Industry
- Fashion and Luxury
- Colors
- Gray, Dark Gray, Dark Slate Gray, Rosy Brown and Silver
- Images
- 5
- Client
- BareBag
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Ke Zheng and Shuhao Xuanyuan
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #160037
Credits
- Team
- Ke Zheng, Shuhao Xuanyuan and Danmin Rao
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- BareBag represents a universal, integrated solution for limited mobility and functionality for the millions of upper limb injured/amputees, who often struggle to carry their belongings and perform daily tasks with one hand. With versatile bag hooks integrated into cross-body fashion accessories, users can comfortably carry all types of bags at their waist hands-free. By solving a universal problem of busy hands, BareBag promotes social equity and improves the life quality for its users.
- Inspiration
- BareBag started with a bike accident that broke one of its founder's arms. This sudden shift in life quality made him realize how inconvenient it is to do everything with only one hand. Especially when doing dumb labor like carrying bags, he had no hands to even use a phone. However, all the bag carriers on the market are bulky and make the user's disability more visible. BareBag's mission is then set to be an everyday fashion accessory that imperceptively becomes the user's additional hand.
- Research
- BareBag is a novel integration that differentiates itself from both fashion accessories and prosthetics. The research for active annual demand from disabled users resulted in more than 3.77 million people in the US alone. BareBag's development went through a 6-month user testing phase with more than 50 prototypes, optimizing the reliability, stability, ease of use, aesthetics, and sustainability.
- Challenge
- The two main challenges during BareBag's development are maintaining the balance and stability of both BareBag and the carried bags, and inventing a strap slider mechanism for smooth one-hand adjustment. The wide-body hooks minimize bag-swinging or escaping while allowing the bag to slide in easily. BareBag's slider is re-engineered with a butterfly locking mechanism that allows the user to unlock with a simple pull, effortlessly adjust with one hand, and lock with a simple pinch. We iterated more than 50 prototypes to perfect the user experience.
- Realization and Technology
- BareBag is modularly assembled with a soft leather exterior and hard 3D-printed recycled PLA hook prosthetics. The modularity allows quick adaptation to configuration, and separate cleaning and recycling at the end of its life cycle. Its sustainable rPET strap is equipped with a 3D-printed slider specially engineered to enable smooth adjustment with one hand.
- Operation and Interaction
- By putting BareBag on like a cross-body bag, it blends into your style while being a prosthetic. With only one hand, unlock the strap slider by folding it up, and effortlessly slide it to adjust the strap length to fit your body. When you have bags to carry, simply hook the bag onto the integrated hook and let it grab the bags for you at waist level comfortably and stably, so your hands can be free to do more.
- Project Duration and Location
- BareBag started in January 2023 in New York City and finished in December 2023 in New York City
- Specifications
- BareBag: 135mm x 50mm x 90mm BareBag Nano: 120mm x 12mm x 70mm
- Keywords
- Bag, Prosthetic, Fashion, Lifestyle, Assistive, Wallet, Amputee, Inclusive, Adaptive
