We recently wrapped up two very cool collaborations. We produced custom Mojito wallets for Mozilla, the group behind Firefox, and Modern Atlanta, a rapidly growing organization that promotes design and architecture excellence.

The wallets turned out great, although we may be a little biased! With the crowds that these two organizations run with, we know the wallets will all be going to people that appreciate good design.

We recently wrapped up our first in-house design “Jam Session.”  It’s time to add some new products to our line, and we decided to tackle the process a little differently this time.

We like keeping the in-house team small and agile (a.k.a. “mobile”), but when it comes to solving design challenges and adding hot new pieces to our upcoming line, we knew that the more creative minds involved in the challenge, the better. So we teamed up with a few other designers for a 2-week design blitz. The team included a couple of very talented GA Tech design students, as well as our good friends over at Resource. We are super stoked about the results. And though we’d love to show you the new designs and features now, unfortunately it will be a few more months before they’re ready. In the meantime, here’s a few images from the fun, and productive, jam session…

Use what ever it takes! A paper bag prototype to test a concept.

To us “modern” is more than an aesthetic, it’s a lifestyle. A modern approach involves rethinking all traditions and “norms”, utilizing technology and embracing a globalized world. It means using this approach to shape your own rewarding and enjoyable path- wherever and whatever that path might be. To us, this thinking is a huge part of our business model and everything we do, from our studio setting to the material choices in our products.

We have always sold our line as “unisex.” To us it just made sense- we would design it, put it all out there, and let you decide which pieces you like. It’s always nice to hear a little confirmation that we’re doing something fresh and heading the right direction. We recently spotted a NYTimes article that did just that for the unisex fashion idea.

They are much better writers than we are so we’ll just give you a few quotes from the article:

•”is like waving a flag of neutrality. “It’s a way of breaking down sexualized relationships, of getting people to relax”

•“Every line should be unisex. A good piece of clothing is a good piece of clothing no matter who was meant to wear it in the first place.”

•And our personal favorite:

“Today the more successful designers are the ones that try to bridge the gap between the sexes rather than drive a wedge between them,” said Karlo Steel

all quotes are from the New York Times article: “It’s All a Blur to Them”

By RUTH LA FERLA

You may have noticed some trends in our product names: basically, all our products are named after travel related things. Wallets are named after international drinks, our toiletry cases are tropical beach destinations, and our bags – travel professions. Most names are straight from our twisted minds here at the studio. Others are from nagging friends. The most recent addition to our bag line, The Diplomat Series, comes from the latter.

The Diplomat 13

A good friend of ours here at the studio is a diplomat named Brendan.  And I don’t mean the kind of person who knows how to delicately make a bitter pill taste sweet, I mean the “real” kind of diplomat, the one that has worldwide immunity and negotiates behind closed government doors. Now, Brendan is definitely a traveling professional, both for his work and for fun. He also seems to think that his job is pretty damn cool and doesn’t mind flashing the diplomatic passport every now and again – especially if you happen to be an attractive woman sitting near him on a flight. So, when he realized that our bags were all named after travel professions, yet there wasn’t a Diplomat in the line, it just didn’t sit well with him. Spending a lot of time in government and rubbing elbows with politicians, he has perfected the art of a convincing argument. So when he laid it on us, we didn’t really have much of a rebuttal. And when he kept reminding us that there should be a Diplomat, we finally caved: “Alright, alright, that’s fine we’ll name the next bag the Diplomat. We promise!”

Brendan carried one of our Directors before he switched to the bag that bears his mark. He probably carried that 1st bag more miles back and forth across the globe than anyone else we know. His last assignment with the US State Department focused on U.S. war crimes policy in Africa so he and his Director spent time in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, The Congo, and Egypt, as well as meetings across North America and Europe. His latest assignment has landed him and his new Diplomat in Kathmandu, Nepal where he provides legal expertise to the Nepal government in drafting their constitution. Not all of our bags find themselves in such demanding hands, but at least you know that they are all up for the job.

THE Diplomat and his Director take on Cairo.

It turns out that the Diplomat is an approriate name for a bag that works as hard as it plays. It can jet off across the globe carrying your computer and files for tackling a serious job or it can tote a travel guide and beach attire for your break between meetings.

…………….

“The Real Story” added by Brendan…

You also may have noticed some other trends here in the Double Rectangle studio: the shameless recruitment of their closest friends to do all the hard work – movie making, modeling, custom artist designing, even naming their products. So when the Double Rectangle duo (Gabrielle & Malcolm) needed someone to spend weeks scripting their wedding ceremony, ensuring that it captured the four continents of their ancestry and the full narrative of their lives, and then perform that same ceremony in a thick, draped robe below a blazing hot Jamaican sun, who did they turn to? That’s right. The diplomat-cum-preacher.

And so it’s no surprise that they again needed a little inspiration from their friends in creating their next bag’s nom de guerre. Some initial suggestions I proposed for travel-related bag names included The Roman Polanski, The H1N1, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. All were names that I felt truly embodied what it meant to venture boldly. What could be more bold than a global health pandemic, or a 76 year-old sexual assault fugitive taunting L.A. prosecutors? Those should be the real faces of the Mojito. But in the end, the two of them insisted on a one-word-only name, and one without numerals. So I was forced to turn inward and a take a long, hard, meditative look at myself. Diplomat, I said, as a weathered United Nations flag flapped overhead. And with that, I gathered up my diplomatic passport, refilled my Ciprofloxacin prescription, and fit them both snugly in my sexy new Diplomat bag. There was a draft constitution somewhere out there, and by god I was going to find it.

We’ve heard a few reports of the left buckle(when facing the bag) being difficult to open. We dispatched our emergency response team to find out who was to blame. They came back with loads of research and all fingers pointing at our design team.

It turns out that the problem is actually the flap that covers the credit card slots interfering with the buckle releasing- not the buckle itself. Since the card slot flap closes with Velcro it ends up being positioned slightly differently each time it’s closed. The times that it is closed a little closer to the buckle is when the interference happens.

Buckle seems to stick sometimes when opening

To minimize the chances of the flap blocking the buckle you can skew the flap slightly away from the buckle when you close it. (Slightly hokey, we know, but hopefully you love your bag enough to tolerate this small issue.) We are fixing the problem on all future releases of the bag.

Skew the card slot flap away from the buckle

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.  If you have one of these Diplomat 15’s with the buckle issue but you’re willing to stick with us while we work out the bugs we’d like to send you a gift to show our appreciation. Simply send us an e-mail with the subject “Diplomat Buckle” with a photo of your bag(hopefully of you on an amazing adventure), approximate date and location of purchase, and your address. While you’re writing we’d love to hear any other feedback on the bag or our line that you might like to see worked into next season’s line.

Bags look pretty simple to design- they’re not. At least, not when you’re on a quest to design the perfect carryall! Thanks for your support and thanks for visiting our blog.

Venture Boldly.