The project deals with appreciation as part of the design process and examines strategies to counteract the trend of fashion as a disposable product. The entire creative process gets analysed: How can appreciation be shown for the materials used? Where do they come from and how are they processed?
Appreciation should also be passed on to the users through strategies such as emotional design or storytelling, allowing them to participate in the individual creation history of the objects and thus enabling an emotional connection beyond pure aesthetics and function.
The VALUE bag collection bundles these considerations and exists in a field of tension between the familiar and the unseen, creating something new and recognisable at the same time. The aim is to create forms that oscillate between abstract sculpture and everyday objects and challenge everyday visual habits.
Experiments with generative AI and photos of self-made sculptures (used as input for the bag shapes) result in handbag-like forms that are used as a starting point for the refined designs. The bags are made by hand from discarded leather upholstered furniture, old leather clothing and broken sails. In order to contextualise and photographically stage the accessories, the collection was also expanded to include clothing made from upcycled shirts, blouses, trousers and jeans.