Day one at DAA HQ.  After years of witnessing the foundation grow from strength to strength, today I make the step to actively contribute to the foundation. I have come on board to offer my creativity and my background as an architect, for future events of the foundation such as pop-up stores as well as contributing in the workshops with the volunteers of the foundation. Looking forward to fruitful collaboration with the foundation. Watch this space…

Hello everyone, I’m Paulo Braga.  When I first arrived at Designers Against Aids I had a very friendly welcome, meeting Ninette, Peke and my other colleagues. I'm from Brazil and I study graphic design - this is for sure a great opportunity to put in practice my skills and of course to get a good experience. DAA has a very dynamic way of spreading awareness among young people and its tools to do so are what make me feel very glad to participate, here we can share ideas, be useful and creative for a very important cause: the struggle against HIV/AIDS. It’s a pleasure to be part of this team!    

Today it's the 30th of January. I am Sam and this is my first day at Designers Against Aids. I will be here for the next 8 weeks as an intern. I study communication management at the Plantijn Hogeschool and hope I can use the skills I learned during my studies to help DAA. My first impressions are really positive. Me and my college Yassin just had a warm welcome, we got to know Ninette and Peke and got a tour of the office. I am really looking forward to working with DAA. I've heard much about what they do from Evelien, a former intern of DAA and fellow student of mine. Of course I already saw DAA's campaigns with JBC, H&M etc, but I think I'm starting to see the bigger picture now. I'm looking forward to meeting our other 2 collegues on Wednesday and working on the Eastpak workshop. Just saw the Eastpak artbook. It's really nice, definitely worth checking out! Personally I really liked the design of  Muschi Kreuzberg. See more here: http://artiststudio.eastpak.com/about   Sam

Hi my name is Yassin   This year when looking for a place where I could do my internship, I came across DAA. After going over their blog and the website I saw the wonderful things they were doing and was happy to lend a hand. My first meeting with Ninette was at the Pop Up store they had in Antwerp selling clothing and other items for the right cause, the battle against AIDS! With some amazing creative and beautiful designs they stood out from the rest of the stores during the busy sales period. As we started talking Ninette told me about the Eastpak wortshop coming up. I study graphic design so this will be a great challenge for me. After arriving at the DAA headquarters I was welcomed by Peke and Ninette with a tour of the office and a glass of OJ! After a bit of small talk I sat down at my station that was going to be my home for the next 8 weeks. Then I got a copy of the hard cover Eastpak Artist Studio book, it’s great to see how 130 artists made unique designs of the classic Eastpak bag. Be sure to check out page 61! I briefly met Clizia Garrone and Alexandra Fernandez and was pleasantly surprised to see their take on the Eastpak backpack.   Yassin  

  The past two months at DAA were two months of hard work, but they were also two months of self growth. It was the first time I had been involved in a project promoting a social cause and it will definitely not be the last. For a fashion student about to enter the workforce, I was exposed to things I wouldn't have even considered in my design process had I not volunteered at DAA. I learnt how to integrate my new found understanding of HIV and AIDS into my designs and therefore communicate something entirely different. The work environment was not the only great thing about these past months. I'm very glad to have met some great people like Ninette, Peke, Alexandra, Ven and Abelone. We built a working relationship but also a personal one, almost like a real family. I learned to relate to group work but also to manage individual tasks, assuming responsibility and developing time management skills.   In short, it was such a positive experience for me that I have decided to return to Antwerp and look for a fashion internship.See you soon!Clizia

Last Friday we -representing DAA- were invited to become a members of jury of the 2011 Kif-Kif Awards in CC Deurne. This is a competition for young people who do digital stories, stand up comedy and also fashion. Alexandra and Clizia had to choose the best designer from Deurne together with other jury members, who were fashion professionals from Antwerp.  It was pretty hard to choose only one from the three talented designers: all collections were creative and the participants tried to put a message in their short performances. All jury members almost unanimously chose the "Black Angel" collection designed by Johanna Picard. It's a pity that we do not speak Flemish well enough to understand stand up comedy or digital story telling, but we saw the reaction of the public and it was visible that they enjoyed the competition a lot. Thanks to the organizers for invitation. Being in the jury was important experience for us!    

 The weather is amazing here! During all the time of our workshop project we were really lucky to see the sun more than the clouds. One more lesson learned - Belgium is not such a rainy country as we feared. Using the warm and sunny days, we decided to take a walk in a forest. Tutor Peke took us to a very unusual place in the South of Antwerpen - Hobokense Polders. This is man-made park with unusual landscapes, lakes and even a swamp. Looking at beautiful nature and cute animals, breathing fresh air and walking on the fallen leaves - this is the best way to throw out any negativity and free your mind from unuseful things. Thanks a lot for this walk! Clizia, Alexandra and Veniamin  

Today the house that we have spent the last two months in became very quiet and we were all very sad. Even the sky turned grey and the clouds came close to crying because it was time for Clizia and Alexandra to go home.It's not all thunder and tears though, Veniamin is staying for a few more weeks to do some tasks for DAA and Clizia and Alexandra will be back in Antwerp in a few weeks time to live and work in this beautiful city. We all fell in love with Antwerp. Working on the DAAbyJBC project was an amazing experience for us all. We learned a lot of new things, mastered useful skills and became more confident. We had the creative freedom and a great team to implement our ideas. We learnt so much as individuals and as part of a team, sharing our ideas and implementing projects that we wouldn't have done on our own.  For Alexandra it was the first time she had worked on a social cause and was grateful she had the opportunity to use her creativity in this way. "I think my design inspirations are gonna be more deep now, not just aesthetic", she said. Thanks to Ninette and Peke for creating a family atmosphere. It was so easy to feel at home straight away. Your support and encouragment has not gone unnoticed. Thanks to Abelone for her gorgeous workshops and friendship and the cats (Smlie, Spouky and Mousy)! Thanks to everybody for this experience. We are proud to have been a part of Designers Against AIDS. Thank you and vaarwel Clizia, Alexandra and Veniamin

From today on, you can see the customized outfits and the banners that we worked on for the last six weeks here at IHAEC in the large JBC store on Meir in the center of Antwerp, alongside the first 'DAA by JBC' collection of homewear and lingerie. The presentation looks really nice, like an installation in a good museum. And please don't forget to buy a 'DAA by JBC' condom (or 3) on your way out... We thank you for your support- shopping was never so much fun!

Last Tuesday Oct 25 was the big day, the 'DAA by JBC' collection launch at Antwerp’s Central station! When we arrived, we saw a school group joining the virtual pillow fight with Belgian top model Hannelore Knuts, but the video isn't just for kids: all kinds of people can take part in this fun pillow fight. While the people were playing downstairs with a virtual Hannelore, upstairs the press were enjoying another pillow fight with 3 other real models lounging on a sofa. We were changing their outfits regularly, to show the entire ‘DAA by JBC’ collection. We had a bit of a problem though: one model was ill at the last moment! In an extreme situation you need extreme solutions, so we went into the station to try and find a replacement model and too our own surprise, we found a really nice girl from Australia who wanted to help us. Honestly, we didn't expect to find anyone but I realized that when you try to do something that seems impossible in a good mood, it's possible. There are always people who want to help you when it’s for a good cause. In the press area we showed our costumized outfits and our banners and of course the real Hannelore, Ninette and a lot of press where there. When we arrived at DAA HQ, Hannelore was also there with Ninette, so we had the opportunity to talk with her and we found out that she’s a great person. She told us about a lot of her experiences, how she met Ninette, etc. She is a professional model and a passionate artist, she likes photography, in fact she became a model by surprise. She is very kind and warm, we had a nice time with her. Now we are inviting people to go to the Central Station, come on people, let's go fight against AIDS! You still have time until tomorrow Saturday Oct 29th at 6 PM! We only have good things to say about the launch last Tuesday. We can say that our work is done and we are so glad to have had this great experience at Designers against AIDS.

Yesterday was a busy day for us: the big event had finally come and we were very curious to see the results of our work!A lot of journalists came to see the presentation of the new DAA by JBC collection in the press room, they did interviews with DAA's Ninette and top model Hannelore Knuts, the face of the campaign. We also enjoyed a virtual pillow fight on the big screen in the hall of Antwerp's Central Station. It was a very nice day, we saw that all people were satisfied and happy and participated in a fashion event that was at the same time a social event. We hope that the message that we want to communicate with our banners: "Safe is sexy" and "HIV/AIDS : Just beat it" was understood by all!I was very happy to discover that in Italy -in my home town Turin- they organized a pillow fight for the right of gay and lesbian people a few days ago!For the annual conference of ILGA- Europe ( International Lesbian, Gay , Bisexual, Trans and interest Association) they organized five days of conferences, meetings, exhibitions and events about the "Human rights and traditional values: Clash or dialogue?"The pillow fight was for the opening of the event, a symbolic battle, a non-violent struggle in the main square of Turin.Of course there was also information about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, with distribution of flyers, gadgets and condoms in the most famous pubs and cafes of the city.It's nice to know that we aren't alone in the fight against HIV/AIDS!!The pillow fight nowadays is trendy all over the world, as you can see here: www.pillowfightday.comIf you want to have a pillow fight yourself, you still have time until Saturday October 29 at 6 PM in Antwerp's Central Station: have fun with our pillow fight and support the DAA cause at the same time!Don't wait and "Just beat it"    

Searching for inspiration, we decided to go to the Dries Van Noten sale. It was pretty hard to find this place, so we had to use our "treasure map" and the help from our new friend from Chile. Unfortunately, it was not allowed to take pictures of the most interesting things inside. But photos can't show the real texture of fabrics and the exact colors that were really good. You could buy a handmade jacket with beautiful embroidery for just 75 euros, which is really cheep for designer's clothing! And ideas are always for free... Clizia, Alexandra and Veniamin.