Controversial Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas once said: "A bag without content is a meaningless bag."
Puma, known for its extensive collaboration with artists of different genres, wants to give bags not only content, but also a "brain." Its latest product, the Reality Bag in leather, is codesigned by Puma, the Serpentine Gallery in London and artist John Armleder featuring his signature brain design as a motif.
You need big bucks to buy this "brainy" bag filled with art: 9,000 yuan (US$1,288). Only five of the 1,000 limited-edition bags are available in China, all in Shanghai.
Adapted from last season's popular Urban Mobility Edition Bag, the limited-edition bag features the same unique molded base, redesigned in silver chrome to complement the metallic luxury leather upper part.
Armleder has also invited artists from around the world to add "content" to the bag. Artist John Tremblay has created a stencil, which is a tool to create your own designs whenever and wherever you like, while Philippe Decrauzat has created a silk foulard, printed with one of his modernist wallpaper patterns. Armleder himself has designed a brain pendant for the bag.
He has also produced a special notepad to which more than 100 working artists from all generations have contributed.
From the proceeds of every bag sold Puma will donate US$100 to the Serpentine Gallery's Education and Public Programs, part of the gallery's commitment to support art, architecture and design.
The only five bags available in China are sold exclusively at Puma's flagship store at Shanghai Hongyi International Plaza.
Address: 299 Nanjing Rd E.
(Shanghai Daily May 14,2008)
