A2SX Unveils Handbag Prototype
A2SX was charged to research and design a handbag—an icon that has become an essential part of fashion. The handbag exists as a form of self expression, and we observed its visual influence by witnessing commentary regarding style rather than questions of function or comfort. In short, today’s handbag exists as another example of image overshadowing function.
Our research was both a study of our own design process as well as an exercise to challenge architecture’s process for an object’s scale that was not as monumental as a building. Applying similar principles that included material research, manufacturing, fabrication, and brand marketing, we have examined a process by investigating form, storage, and technology.
A2SX continues its mission to explore design beyond walls, and has added to its list—unique furniture, installations, and fabrication exercises. This serves as a reminder that not only does design matter at all scales, but that design can influence consumption, or as former Gucci designer Tom Ford exclaimed, “You gotta have it or you’ll die!”
Our approach in solving this fashion, style, and functionality dilemma was to first understand cultural trends that currently exist in our world today, primarily our issue with storage of “stuff,” as well as introducing the idea that the term “handbag” is not solely in the feminine realm any longer.
Personal storage has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and people are addicted to keeping and storing “things”; items like phones, cameras, books, boxes, personal entertainment units and the subsequent cords, chargers, and the like. This has generated a new demand for convenient space away from home that protects these items while on the go. These self-storage challenges should carry over to fashion, where handbags of all types could be used to solve our personal storage needs. Whether you’re the urban adventurer, the delivery boy, the diva your handbag should meet a criteria grounded in comfort, utility and style.
We wanted to open a dialog on our current nomadic lifestyle that forces us to carry at least two or even three bags while we navigate between destinations. Our mission was simple—to solve a spatial, functional, and material problem with an interesting product in a world where things are getting smaller.
Our solution? The Urban Hipster.