Make This Backpack Your Canvas to Benefit HIV/AIDS

Now in its fifth year, Eastpak Artist Studio (EAST) is the opportunity for some of the world's front-running designers, as well as up-and-coming creators, to collaborate and raise funds for the HIV/AIDS organization, Designers Against AIDS (DAA.)

The brand has previously enlisted the likes of Manolo Blahnik and Jean Paul Gaultier to transform a blank backpack --the Eastpak Padded Pak'r-- into a collectible work of art. The backpacks are then auctioned, using proceeds to support DAA.

This year, EAST '16 is kicking off the project with the "wildcard" competition. EAST has partnered with Arts Thread to give young design students and graduates the chance to design a bag, and see their piece appear alongside some of the world's most celebrated artists and designers during the final auction.

Three finalists will receive a wildcard entry to EAST and a production budget to turn their winning designs into reality. But the competition is fierce: One design only will be selected to join the 10 other bags that will be auctioned.

Find more information on the competition and see the designs of previous years at ArtistStudio.Eastpak.com