Recycled Bags - Three Inspirational Brands

Looking for a bag that says “me be hip, urban, and environmentally responsible? Vy&Elle, Freitag, and Baumm are three inspirational companies that use recycled billboards, truck tarpaulins, and seat belts to compose sharp, one-of-a kind accessories.

Based in Tucson, Arizona, Vy&Elle was founded in 2002 by British designer Nicola Freeguard. As of 2007 the company has reused over 100 tons of PVC billboard vinyl to create colorful totes, messenger bags, and other accessories.

Read more:
www.handbagdesigner101.com
Vy&Elle Bags, Treehugger.

If you've never seen a Freitag bag or surfed their ultracool website, just stop and click: Freitag. Around since 1993, the popular European brand offers an extensive line of graphically bold bags, computer and iPod cases made from truck tarpaulins, seat belts, and bike tubes. One of their newest products, the F84 Mac Sleeve Air is constructed from rooftop tarps and looks like a manila envelope.

The company’s keen eye for design is evident not only in its products, but also by its website. Be sure to play with the F-cut tool, which allows you to move stencils over a selection of truck tarpaulins and "cut out" your own bag.







Last but not least, Baumm is based in Buenos Aires and, like Vy&Elle, uses old billboards as its material source. Interweaving the arts with environmentally conscious product design, Baumm collaborates with artists and has also has entered the realm of furniture design. Especially clever is their concept “B-own,” whereupon Baumm designs bags with a company’s billboard campaign and gives them back to the same company as a new marketable product.

Read More:
Baumm Recycled Advertisement Bags, Inhabitat.

Turf Tube Protects Tushes

Live through an Arizona summer and you’ll quickly learn that the most innocuous objects – flip flops, cell phones, patio furniture – can transform into searing weapons. To protect our rears from burns, Michael Dollin and crew from Urban Earth Design have invented Turf Tube, an indoor/outdoor seat covered in artificial turf. In contrast to materials such as concrete, steel, wood, or plastic, which can heat from 10-45 degrees above ambient temperature, artificial turf increases a respectable six. The turf's rapid heat dissipation makes it ideal to withstand the Arizona desert heat, where summer ambient temperatures range from 100 to 120 degrees. In addition to their burn-free surface, the no-frill Turf Tubes are durable, customizable, and manufactured locally. The designers envision a host of turf-topped possibilities including coolers, grills, lounge chairs, trash cans, lights, bar stools, swings, and pillows.
See also: Phoenix Home & Garden - Turf Tube

Flip a Strip - Rethinking the Strip Mall

Challenging designers to "transcend the non-descript status quo" of the Strip Mall, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art organized a part invite, part open competition requiring participants to "Flip a Strip." The competition received 95 entries from teams in 46 cities and 6 countries. SMOCA recently announced the top ten finalists, which included three Phoenix architecture firms: Architecture-Infrastructure-Research, Scottsdale AZ, Gould Evans, Phoenix AZ, and Marlene Imirzian & Associates, Phoenix AZ. Work by these and other finalists will be the focus of an exhibit at SMOCA running October 4 through January 18 2008.