A collaboration between UPRISERS x Sampa for Complex Family Style Food Fest in Los Angeles.

 

THE INTENTION

Why now?

The idea sparked from a shared belief: food is a love language. Complex Family Style Food Fest celebrates the intersection of food and fashion with the motto “wear your favorite restaurant, and eat your favorite brand.” Partnering with Sampa — known for their elevated Filipino cuisine — UPRISERS wanted to honor the Filipino tradition of baon: a packed meal, lovingly prepared, often for someone you care about.

With many Filipinos remembering stainless steel lunch pails as part of daily life, this project became a way to tell that story through a special one-day culinary and cultural moment in Los Angeles.

ROOTED IN TRADITION

Baon (bah-on) means more than just lunch. It’s a quiet act of love—“I see you. I feed you.” For schoolchildren, it meant opening a lunchbox filled with care. For laborers, it was the practicality of saving money and time. And once its first purpose ended, the lunch pail lived on—repurposed to hold rice, tools, or even toys.

This collaboration pays homage to that resilience, resourcefulness, and tenderness in Filipino culture.

FROM LAB TO LIFE

The design journey began with a stainless steel lunch pail, reimagined as a limited edition BAON BOX. Its exterior features playful nods to food packaging, while the interior lid includes a writable space for a personal note—an echo of those small reminders of care tucked into packed lunches. Along the sides of the lunch pail are the names of Los Angeles neighborhoods. From Highland Park to Little Tokyo to Long Beach, these names remind us that CARE is rooted in community. 

Alongside the lunch pail, we created an exclusive UPRISERS x Sampa graphic tee, printed on our UPRISERS core t-shirt silhouette.

The design draws inspiration from the Philippines and from the LA neighborhoods we hold close, bridging heritage and the local communities that make Los Angeles home.

CIRCULAR & CARING

Instead of disposable food packaging, the stainless steel lunch pail is designed to last—universally reusable and collectible. By introducing a vessel with enduring function, we extend its lifespan far beyond a single meal.

 

“Food is how we care for one another. The BAON BOX is our love note—something practical, nostalgic, and full of meaning.”
 — Kathleen Montgomery, Design Director, UPRISERS

 

DESIGNED FROM THE HEART UP

The BAON BOX is more than a product—it’s a love note in the form of food.

It represents community care,

and the timeless Filipino way of showing love:

making sure that your loved ones are fed.

 

See other LAB projects with food culture inspired design: UPRISERS x Suehiro Forever Have a Radical Day!