Tag Archives: Cape Town

the PPC Cement Laptop Bag story

News

The story about how the PPC Cement Laptop Bag came to be is rather straight forward > I was at a shoe factory ordering shoes (pumps to be specific) one random day and they were showing me how they made them. Part of the procedure is to fuse the desired outer fabric to a cotton to make the fabric stronger and more suitable for the purpose. Curious as to what else this technical fabric would be used for I asked for some.

I fused it to all sorts of materials, paper being one of them. Then some time later I was driving along the highway behind a cement truck and I noticed the packaging, more specifically, the very graphic elephant logo of Pretoria Portland Cement. I thought this would be fantastic to make a bag out of so I got hold of some PPC packaging and experimented. It really was an opportunity, experiment and idea that all came together.

Once I had a prototype I contacted PPC for their permission to use their packaging and the rest is history. It reminded me of something I had written before “Inspiration is all around you, you’ve just keep your eyes and mind open to possibilities. (See blog post about connecting experiences).

So how do we make the bags now? An unused Pretoria Portland Cement paper bag is the beginning of each piece. We use unused cmenet packaging  Production takes a while, but it’s worth it. We separate the layers that make up a cement packet, remove the top and third layer of the bag and fuse them together. Bonding them with black cotton means that durability is never compromised. From there, you can treat it like any other fabric. We draw the pattern, cut it and stitch the bag together (click here to watch video about us).

Fatima Samuels – sewer

The PPC Cement Laptop Bag is as practical as you can get. There are two sections and two pockets: carry your laptop cables in one pocket and a phone or mouse in the other. A padded divider separates your laptop from any other papers or notes, and the entire inside of the bag is also padded to protect everything that you carry inside it.

The bag closes with two magnets discreetly hidden on the flap.

Wendren Setzer – designer

The bags were originally coated with 3M scotchguard but we really wanted to use a more environmentally friendly product. After months of searching and testing we found a concentration of nano tech liquid glass that coats the surface with a really thin film that water, dirt and/or oil cannot penetrate, and works on the cement packaging paper.

Packaging designed for the PPC Cement Laptop Bag telling you the story about how it is made (a cement packaging becomes a bag and a bag becomes a tag).

Nano liquid glass is a revolutionary product that, in a really simple description, coats the surface so that it is hydrophobic (water repellent) in the same way that a lotus leaf is. It is completely invisible, unlike other coatings, and does not change the texture of the surface or impair it’s ability to breathe. It also enhances colour strength and makes the coated surface easier to clean without the use of detergents. It couldn’t be more perfect.

This product has proven to be so successful as a bag coating (making them water resistant, soil repellent and easy to clean) that we now also spray the Antique Linen range of bags.

The bags are available as in three colours and three sizes: 13″, 15″ and 17″ and in various colours. Click here to visit the WREN shop to buy a a PPC Cement Laptop Bag online.

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Other PPC Cement Laptop Bag posts:

 Other PPC Cement Laptop Bag articles:

Cool New Stuff, This is Awesome, Fashionably Geek, Green by Design, Tech News Hourly, Gadget Lab on Wired, Myweku, Babazeka, Urban Review, Embalagem Sustentavel, Eco Salon, The Cool Gadgets, Mad About Bags, BoingBoing, Imod, Cool Things and Gadget Sin.

 

Behind the scenes of the jute range shoot

Events, Wren

Bahind the scenes of the jute shoot 5

The concept behind the Jute bag shoot was to capture the spirit of travel, exploration and fun – hence different people, different places and different vibes.

Bahind the scenes of the jute shoot 4

Each model (who were not professionals, just people like you and me): Patrick, Chad, Keke and Azola were asked to style in their own way and to choose their favorite bag from the jute range to “model”. Every coffee sack bag is unique, as is every person, and becuase the bags have a past and now a future it felt perfect to share a snapshot of a day together.

Bahind the scenes of the jute shoot 1

The background needed to be out of focus and on one of the shoot days the wind was howling in Cape Town resulting in there being almost nobody out on the streets. We recruited friends and family to create some ‘movement’ or background ‘noise’ for the photograph (see above) but it did not work as well as we had hoped and landed up not using them and playing around with some ideas ideas completely distant from the original brief but sometimes you just have to let a shoot take on a life of it’s own. Below are behind the scenes shot of this ‘play’ and to see the final images of these ideas click here and here.

Bahind the scenes of the jute shoot 2

Click here to see the final jute bag range images and to see the full flickr group click here.

 

the JUTE range shoot

Featured, Wren

Above: ORGANIC JUTE COFFEE SLING & SHOULDER BAGS. *Location: BoKaap, Cape Town. *Model: Azola *Photographer: Ricardo


Above: JUTE COFFEE CARRY-ALL BAG *Location: Cape Town Central. *Model: Keke *Photographer: Ricardo

Above: ORGANIC JUTE COFFEE SHOULDER BAG *Location: BoKaap , Cape Town. *Model: Azola *Photographer: Ricardo

 Above: JUTE COFFEE TRAVEL BAG *Location: Salt River Train Station, Cape Town. *Model: Patrick *Photographer: Ricardo

{to see other images from the shoot visit the flickr WREN JUTE BAGS GROUP}

Design Indaba Reflections

Conversational, Events, Inspiration

This year the Design Indaba Conference was a completely different experience, as it should be, to any other year. I walked away with three doodled and pondered thoughts.

JOY

“Have joy in what you do”

Jen Bilik laughed about not being able to have it all, all of the time. She even offered the suggestion that perhaps happiness and success are not meant to come at the same time but rather as consecutive achievements in life. Laugh and have joy in right now.

On reflection of the difference between the classic statement that you must “love what you do in order to achieve success” the notion of “having joy” in what you do is a lot lighter, a lot less ‘commitive’ and as I reflect further on moments of joy that I have experienced through Wren, I smile.

PATIENCE

Alessi spoke about the amount of time each design took and it was not days, weeks or months but rather years.

Maarten Baas spoke about experiencing seasons and enjoying ‘winter’ in thyself. A period of non-creation.

Jody Aufrichtig and Nick Ferguson from Daddy’s World stressed the importance of patience. All great things, and all non-great things take time – have patience.

FAMILY

Of the 40-odd speakers, 15 of them mentioned or spoke directly of their family/ies. I thought that I might be more aware of it becuase I am getting married in three weeks time but after more than eight photographs of smiling families, several mentions including a request for the audience to sing happy birthday to a mom back home in Europe I had to conclude that it was not just me.

It feels as though the home is coming into the work place, that the home and the family unit are becoming more public and one to be proud of and not viewed as a hindrance, obstacle or goal to be achieved. I seem to remember Li Edelkoort speaking about this years back but this year it rang true. This is something to be joyful of, and if not, then sign-up for Jen Bilik’s philosophy that you do not have to have it all at once.

What a lot of Fiiissh!

Interesting Finds

On the way back from my seamstress yesterday I noticed that the fish sellers had managed to string drying Snoek along the full length of this school fence (200m long and I counted nearly 1500 fish). Salted and dried Snoek is a delicacy that is used to make the traditional stew called Smoorsnoek.  Honestly, I have never tried salted and dried Snoek or Smoorsnoek. After seeing sights like this where the fish is dried opening on rusted fences, I do not think I want to.

P.S. I couldnt fit the whole image in without making it tiny. To see up-close, click on the image and a larger version will load and you can zoom in.