Designing Elegance: Alexquisite's Stylish Backpacks

From civil engineer to product designer, Greek-born Alexandros Kotoulas is the man behind the emerging brand Alexquisite. Think soft lines, sensuous materials and a design free from any excess stylistic information. His new chic and sleek Voyager Backpack is circling international design blogs and has caught the attention of leather goods colossus Louis Vuitton – winning Kotoulas a place in the firm’s creative team.

Born in remote but quaint town of Kastoria, Greece, Alexandros graduated in Civil Engineering from the prestigious Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The city’s bursting cultural life and cosmopolitan atmosphere was a revelatory experience for Kotoulas, who decided to give in to his creative inner voice and study art and design alongside prominent, Thessaloniki-based artist Rania Emmanouilidou.

After a year of intensive workshops, he gained a place in the renowned Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands, one of world’s most important and innovative establishments in the area of conceptual product design. Kotoulas currently interns at the department of leather and travel goods of luxurious brand Louis Vuitton in Paris, and launched his own brand Alexquisite in December 2014.

Often described as a ‘soft designer’ for his soft and lean lines that recur in his designs, Kotoulas’ journey started with creating small housewares and furniture with evident minimalistic influences in his choice of forms and materials.

However, motivated by his love for textile and fabric, Kotoulas soon revealed his talent for designing bags, focusing simultaneously on functionality, wearability and style, and presented in 2014 his first bag collection, theVoyager Backpack series that became the signature piece of his brand Alexquisite. Multi-talented Kotoulas recently started experimenting with luxury jewelry design through his collaboration with Greek supplier of rare pearls, Pearls Center.

The Voyager Backpack drew global attention to the young Greek designer and demand from retailers and the public sky-lighted almost immediately. Highly functional and with a simple yet fresh design, this elegant structured bag was designed as both a city and a travel accessory, using the latest creative techniques in fabric design.

Manifesting his fascination with fabric, Kotoulas’ care was to create an object that is not only resistant and practical to use, but also one that is pleasant to the touch of its user. Each handbag can be customized and carries a personal touch as it is entirely handmade in the designer’s native Greece. With several limited editions already available, theVoyager Backpack is featured on influential design websites such as the cool republic, monoqi, yatzer and artnau, winning Kotoulas further recognition for his work.

Learn more about the designer Alexandros Kotoulas and his brand Alexquisite at http://alexquisite.com/.

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