Sustainable handbags that consumers assemble at home

The handbag collection, designed by Japanese studio Nendo, is distributed in flat form and can be assembled at home without any equipment

Spotted: Japanese studio, Nendo, has designed a collection of handbags for the startup Italian online platform, Up To You Anthology, which customers can self-assemble at home. Each bag in the Mai collection is made from single sheets of laser-cut leather, in a net-style format. Its name comes from the Japanese word “ichi-mai”, which translates to “one-sheet”. This straightforward design has simplified the manufacturing process, and minimised the inventory and shipping costs.

The bags come in a variety of different sizes and colours, which include mustard yellow, dark brown, khaki and teal, achieved by dying the leather with a plant-derived tannin. The customer receives the bag in a completely flat form, and can assemble it by joining a few rivets through the holes of the bag, without using any tools. They can also change the size of the bag and make it more compact by using poppers in the corners to fold it in half, and in its extended form, it can hold a full-size A3 drawing.

Up To You Anthology was launched in December 2019, and on its platform customers can design their own bag, or purchase one made by well-known designers, including Nendo. The Mai collection is now available to purchase, with prices ranging from €181 to €302.

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