This tote bag-life jacket combination is an "essential that shouldn't exist"
A group of five New York artists has created Lifeline, a tote bag that can convert into a self-inflating life jacket as a conceptual design object meant to bring awareness to the threat of climate change-related flooding.
Timed to New York Climate Week, the as-yet-unnamed group used a standard nylon life jacket to create the object, which is meant to be conceptual and is not for sale.
Driven by the recent flooding in the New York City subway system, Lifeline was designed to be a commentary on consumer fashion and on the emergencies of climate change by contrasting the everyday design of a functional tote bag with the emergency design of a life jacket.
Central to the commentary is the absurdity that such an item needs to exist, or makes sense in context.
"The overarching principle for this project is an essential that shouldn't exist," group member and creative director Phil Le Brun told Dezeen.
"It's an inquiry into conditions and the world which gave rise to this object."
According to designer Gabriela Mestriner, who worked on the project, the final product includes three yards of nylon, polyester zippers, cording and metal locks, most of which came from a deconstructed life vest.
The material was then heat-welded back together.
A zipper that runs through the centre of the bag flap and through the body opens to allow for a person's head to pass through. The set up includes a detached rain hood that can be stored in the bag.
Similar to a regular life jacket, the Lifeline is inflated by pulling on straps. Le Brun said that in testing, they were able to pull off the conversion from tote bag to life jacket in around 15 seconds.
Important to the project was what Le Brun calls the "language of emergency" seen in the orange of the final and the inflation mechanism.
However, the styling and photoshoot around the design also helped in the communication of the concept behind the design, with the group working to present the bag in photography that appears almost glamorous.
Le Brun said that they were aware of this perception and wanted to lean into it.
"The contrast of normality and then emergency, that juxtaposition and that friction, was deliberate," he said. "It was a deliberate choice for the bag to look kind of cool and normal and be actually functional."
The fact that the life jacket is "hidden" within the bag is a direct commentary on what the group sees as the negative effects of consumerism.
"Hidden within our style and our fashion and our consumerism is a fucking emergency," Le Brun said.
On the other hand, the photoshoot features images of the bag being converted into a life jacket in the subway, an eerie look into its potential usefulness.
When asked how the message of the design would impact people, Le Brun emphasised the media around it as an important aspect of getting the point across and called it a "narrative object".
"I like to think of it as a narrative object," he said. "I want it to be something that sparks people to think about the choices they make."
Lifeline is the group's debut concept and Le Brun said they hope to continue exploring ideas through design.
Other conceptual designs include the Bliss Couch, which creative agency Mother made to function as a life raft.
In Sweden, developer Riksbyggen and creative agency BBDO Nordics created scale apartments based on what young people can afford to highlight the country's housing unaffordability.
The photography is by Emmett Orgass.
Project credits:
Concept and creative direction: Philip Le Brun
Art direction, bag design and performance: Gabriela Mestriner
Film and editing: Jack Inzer
Visual and interactive design: Julia Albuquerque
Stylist: Lucila Hernandes
The post This tote bag-life jacket combination is an "essential that shouldn't exist" appeared first on Dezeen.
