on my journey to find pre-loved fabrics with an australian story, to create bags with a story that will then continue with the buyer
currently i am working on another project than songlines. actually i am only working on that other project and don't have time for my bags - inbetween here and there, i do have to make some money. although i cannot apply all the principles in this project from mike dempsey's design business tips, there are a few that ring a bell. http://bit.ly/oTLVkS most important one: retain a sense of fun and close follower up: appreciate the wonderful area that you work in (i think i can adapt area to the context of the part...
beautiful music, beautiful scenery - australian landscape as musical inspiration: http://www.australia.com/campaigns/makingtracks/index.htm
.. the service design thinking book, as it arrived before the bag making bible ;-) my cousin wrote this awesome book on service design thinking, and my own personal copy arrived this morning. apart from the content being great, i just love the look and feel of the book. a thick mat black book, three different colored bookmarks and most off all - the text layout. the way the text almost tumbles of the page on the right, not keeping in line with 'standard' book text layout techniques just makes my heart skip. and...
how cool is this bag: handmade in italia from finest vegetable tanned leather with 100% wool detailing .. and a design that allows you to transform the same bag into a laptop bag, an overnighter or a portfolio bag. saves space in the cupboard - not in the wallet though ;-) check out more of the hardgraft products .. it's worth it!
in this case they have the same color! at a recent sydney laneway market i came across this unusual material for bags and wallets: eel skin. according to the designer, eel is one of the strongest and most durable leathers .. and instead of feeling slimey it acctually felt really nice and soft. we got shown a 'pre-loved' wallet and it still looked great. i just loved the colors. sadly their website is not up and running yet, but i am sure you can just send them a short email in case you would like to keep an (eely...
apple & bee is an australian owned company that manufactures different kinds of bags out of organic & sustainable fibres - and they look cute too. in addition they are carbon neutral. great products...
going through my weekly fix of new business ideas i came across this business concept: you return your old a.p.c. jeans, get a new pair and your old one's are being repaired, marked with your initials and sold as 'butler jeans'. as the story goes butlers pre-wore jeans in the 19th century to avoid their owners looking like nouveau riches. if the 'james' of the world would have known that they could have set up a seperate business with that idea ... great idea. and i just stumbled across a video that shows the whole...
today i will try a few sewing machines with my materials to see which one is best to sew my bags. next step! and then i can go and buy one :-) summer is fading slowly and the sky is gray. time for a little inspirational music while driving around in the kombi on my test trip.
while i am still busy procrastinating NOT to get some pieces of fabric organized to finally test the sewing machines i looked at, i stumbled across this on swiss-miss.com: garments constructed from re-appropriated Swiss military fabrics. launched by the swiss company victorinox all items are a hand-numbered limited edition of 100. the only thing i couldn't figure out was the price .. same experience as i have - a lot of manual work to disassemble used items and turn them into something new. but - the result...
crafted from re-used australian materials, songlines' products inspire you to explore their past and create their future ... bags with a story. the start of the journey.
the name 'songlines' was inspired by the dreaming tracks of indigenous australians, which are invisible paths across the land (or, sometimes the sky) which mark the route followed by a localized 'creator-spirit' during the dreaming. The paths of the songlines are recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance, and painting ... I want my bags to pass on similar stories :-)
ariane fricke - aspiring bag maker - manly, australia
info@bagswithastory.com
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