Totes amaze!

MANILA, Philippines - One of the things you don’t forget about prom is what you and your date get to take home as souvenirs. Something you can keep in a box along with the dried corsage he gave you, and the poem he scribbled for you on tissue.

When we started working on our 18th anniversary party, the YS Prom, we knew that we wanted to have the same kind of all-around experience — but better. We asked some of our favorite young artists to make exclusive designs for special YS tote bags, the giveaways at the party. We caught up with the artists and asked them to look back on their prom experiences.

Luis Santos (@lastcigarettes) and Carina Santos (@presidents)

We asked siblings Luis and Carina Santos if they’d do a collaboration for Young STAR (thinking it might be cute), and we’re glad they obliged. The two grew up in a family of artists. Their lolo is the renowned painter and komik artist Mauro Malang, and their father is Soler.

Luis, who works with variations of blacks and whites, has had exhibitions at West Gallery, Manila Contemporary, Blanc Gallery and Silverlens. While Carina has had two solo shows and was able to display work in a group show with some of the big names of local art — Chabet, Juan Alcazaren, Nilo Ilarde, and Gerry Tan. Both were featured in Preview magazine’s Creative It List, Luis in 2013 and Carina the previous year.

For the Young STAR tote, Luis first made a background texture based on images of his work, a collage of distorted galvanized iron sheets. After which Carina added another layer onto it. While their styles of work are different, the siblings agree that their general aesthetic is the same and complementary.

From prom, Luis only remembers bad food and terrible dancing. While Carina recalls being worried about her date, who looked rather bored.

Ryan Villamael (@cutfelt)

Ryan cuts paper. Intricate details and lacey constructions are meticulously sliced out of sheets of paper, creating delicate pieces as small as your hand to installations that could fill a wall. His work has been exhibited locally as well as in Singapore and Hong Kong. He considers his general body of work his greatest accomplishment, as it has opened universes of possibilities for his personal visual narrative.

His tote bag design for Young STAR is entitled “Ekses,” and stems from the idea of transforming the tote bag into a utilitarian object (in this case, a fashion accessory). “It is recontextualized by the photographic image of my studio’s scrap materials. ‘Fashion as excess’ and ‘beautiful garbage’ are two ideas that I intended to simultaneously embody in my design.”

Ryan is a graduate of the University of the Philippines and the Philippine High School for the Arts in Mt. Makiling. It is because he spent his high school years living in the mythical Mt. Makiling that he considers himself “not fully familiar with the ways and the subculture of a traditional prom. To be the best dressed or to be the king and queen of the night were farthest from our concerns.” Instead of partying, when Ryan turned 18, he locked himself in a room and looked at every memento he had collected over the past 18 years. “I welcomed my first day as an ‘adult’ and discovered that I was the exact same person.”

JP Cuison (@gigzilla)

This advertising creative has grown a cult following for his pop designs of gig posters. JP just recently wrapped up his fifth solo exhibit for his paintings. He has been able to work on projects with brands like Nike, Puma, New Balance, Asia Brewery, Pulp magazine, Nescafé, and bands like the Eraserheads and Razorback. He was the Philippine representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for two years, and also just recently bagged an Awit Award for best album cover for the band Moonstar88.

His design for the Young STAR tote is a collage of previous gig posters and illustration projects he has done, inspired by the laptop of his officemate that is covered with stickers.

He didn’t have a high school prom because his school was afraid of the debauchery that would ensue.