Susan Szatmáry x Bolon

How Can Bags Made Out Of Waste Floors Be This Good?

What do you get when you cross an experienced bag designer with a background at both Céline (yes Old Céline), Alexander McQueen, and Paco Rabanne to mention a few, with Bolon, a Swedish family business made world-famous by making the best durable floors? Well, I’ll tell you one thing, I never expected it to be a line of high-end bags but that is just what it is.

“I wanted to create a more sustainable collection. When I learnt more about Bolon’s history, such as its production in Sweden and all their collections contain recycled material, I knew I wanted to use their woven vinyl waste and mix it with leather using the best Italian craftsmanship, to receive a collection that meets my standards” Susan Szatmáry says.

Today, the 1st of October marks the launch of this collaboration between Susan Szatmáry and Bolon where Susan has developed two bags with waste material from Bolon’s flooring production. Over the years, Bolon has experimented with its woven material (a durable combination of nylon and cotton) and collaborated with a number of international and domestic creators such as Thonet, Monica Förster and Altewai Saome.

The campaign, photographed by Bolon’s Creative Director gone photographer (you may know her from this story) was shot in a subway station in Stockholm.

The location may not be a given one at first but the installation in the Subway station (every subway station in Stockholm has its own art installation made by a contemporary artist) is actually what makes it the perfect place for this collection. The LED neon lights in the ceiling combine into the shape of a landscape which was inspired by the artist David Svensson’s unborn child. The simplified sequences represent the life and pulse of the city but also the people who live there. The light streaks lead people to work, to school, home, and everywhere else they need to be.

What has this to do with bags and floors you may wonder? Well, they have one very big thing common: they take people through life.

The limited bag collection designed by Szatmáry can be viewed in, Bolon Lab Store at Birger Jarlsgatan 32 in Stockholm until end of November. Shop the collection at Susanszatmáry.com .