Bags made from discarded airbags

Bag company Freitag designed a line of shopper bags made from discarded, unused airbags.

Freitag is known for their use of discarded truck tarps to make one of a kind bags. They now turned their attention to discarded airbags, which have been installed in cars but remained unused.

While airbags have to comply with strictly defined standards, they do not look alike. They come in a variety of shapes and pastel colours. Depending on the producer, vehicle type, and where they’re used, airbags may also feature colourful seams and cryptic imprints. Crammed into the steering wheel, the dashboard, and other impossible places, they also get their own characteristic folds and wrinkles.

Freitag used these airbags, as well as tension belts from trucks, to make two types of shoppers, called F700 ARROW and F708 FIREBIRD. They are designed in such a way that the airbags remain their original shape and characteristics to minimise waste, or what Freitag calls “bag follows form”. The bags also still ‘inflate’ like airbags; when moderately full they are compact in size, but when they are given a good shake or are very full, they unfold their volume and assume their characteristic, rounded shape.

Photos: Oliver Nanzig / Julia Ishac / Philip Frowein