Branding
Fashion
Identity Design
Photography
Product Design
Publication Design
Sustainability
Textiles
Type Design
Bounds is a leather goods brand focused on creating heirlooms to be passed along from loved one to loved one, emphasizing product longevity, responsible material resourcing, and utilizing natural and biodegradable materials. The core concept of the brand and project is ‘object as storyteller’ and how an item can be witness to its own creation and participate meaningfully in your daily life. This project is a reflection upon 2020 and how during the pandemic I felt connected to certain items that my family had passed along to me when I couldn’t be with them in person. My family is fond of heirlooms and that interest has been continued with me, which I have then manifested in this project.
I began the project by researching leathercraft as far back as I possibly could, starting around 400,000 years ago and moving toward the present. Humans and other fellow hominin species such as Neanderthals have developed the practice over millennia and many leather craftspeople today still use many of the same tools as our early ancestors did. I then gathered the needed materials and set off to work. I referenced my most-used tote bags and combined them together to create various mockups, which later informed my final design.
The Bounds Colophon is a printed piece to accompany the bag upon purchase. I conceptualized it as a tool to quickly communicate the brand’s story and essence, and offer the craftsperson a space to communicate their own interests to the brand community.