01 Dec 2016 / News about students

Bags for the modern nomad

Design School Kolding students design surprising bags for the modern nomad
By Charlotte Melin

In the last decade, nomad life has become the norm. People commute long distances to work. They travel around the world for their summer holiday. And every weekend children of divorced parents travel between homes. Being on the move means you have to transport your belongings, which makes the bag an essential accessory for the nomad.

Inspired by the nomadic lifestyle, Design School Kolding students have designed a series of new and surprising suggestions for a bag that suits the nomad. They call the project The Luggage Project. It is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between Industrial Design students, Fashion Design students, Textile Design students and Accessory Design students and three companies, Billund Airport, ECCO Accessories and Pelle Al Vegetale.

- The Luggage Project is based on the needs of the traveler and the special challenges that you meet when you travel by plane. Here you encounter certain restrictions regarding weight, objects, fear of terrorism, etc. Yet, you also experience a human need to feel like an individual, feel joy or safety, explains Maria Kirk Mikkelsen who has been teaching the course.

A good looking bag
The Luggage Project has resulted in nine very different bags. One group made a Good Looking bag for young urbanites that does not take up too much space. Another group focused on creating a bag that is playful. A third group created a bag that communicates closeness and togetherness; a feeling similar to that of a wrapped newborn baby. During the project, the students identified various challenges and created concepts to meet these challenges. The concepts related to the fields of critical design, fashion and problem solving. Next phase was creating the bag designs and realising them in the form of prototypes or mock-ups depending on scope and production methods. The students have worked with industrial product development and craftsmanship.

In December and January The Luggage Project is exhibited at Billund Airport.