The Anti-Consumerist Handbag: critical design exploration goes viral

Handbag with logos

This university project was featured in The Metro, BBC Technology and on BBC Radio 4

  • Year 2014
  • Collaborators Rebecca Smith, Kirsty Sneddon

Project Overview

We have succumbed to an age where the value of money has deteriorated and society as a whole has become materialistic and object-orientated.

‘Excuse me? Excuse you!’ is an attentive character. Embodied within a hand crafted messenger bag, its evocative whispers make spending money emotionally harder. Inverting the value given to consumerism, the concept creates a negative association with spending.

With every scuff in the leather, your relationship with the bag grows; it is a piece of fashion that never becomes obsolete. Although cheeky and critical, ‘Excuse me? Excuse you!’ is an old friend looking out for our best interests.

the finished handbag

the handbag in use

Project Context

This project was created as part of a university module exploring the potential for design to prompt critical thought. We wanted to explore the contrast between mass production, consumerism and wellbeing.

Publicity

Over a year after the Anti-Consumerist Handbag was completed and exhibited, my collaborators and I did a short interview on a radio show as part of an event. During this interview, we mentioned the design and the meaning behind it. The next day, we were surprised to get a message saying that our faces were on the front cover of the Metro. The design had been picked up by a number of mass media sources and was scattered across newspapers throughout the country. This led to an interview for Radio 4 and an invitation to visit a TV studio in London to speak about our work.

This project was featured in:

The Process

the handbag technology The prototype handbag was built using Arduino in combination with a sensor that would sense when the debit card was removed. A sound clip was then played to attempt to deter the user from making the purchase.

testing and prototyping

crafting the handbag The handbag was created using my father's old bookbinding leather. We used a sailmakers' stich to create the design.