While I enjoy creating and making my own work, I also really like collaborating with others to produce something new. So when Honey Simmonds of Lalo The Shop contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in helping out with developing a new bag I was very happy to talk to her.
Lalo The Bag work with artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico, to make bags from PET plastic (recycled from plastic bottles and dyed in bright colours). The weavers set their own prices based on their labour and materials. The bags are sold worldwide, with stockists in Japan and Korea as well as in the UK (including Harrods and Selfridges), Europe, and the US.
I’ve seen lots of PET bags in my travels in Mexico and Guatemala (and even bought a couple!), so I was very interested.
Open weave
Most of the bags that Lalo currently sells are closely woven – checkweave plaited bags in flat PET tape or randed bags in tubular PET. Honey was interested in developing a more open weave bag. She showed me one that she’d bought in Mexico and asked about creating something with a similar feel.
I immediately recognised the technique as macrame, which I did a lot when I was a teenager (showing my age there!). Although the bag was attractive, we both agreed that having a large hole in the bottom was not very practical. 🙂
Honey gave me some bundles of material to take away and play with – always exciting to try out new materials.
The first thing I discovered was that the tubular PET varied in thickness and stiffness, depending on the colour. Not a lot, but I could feel the difference when weaving. It was also very slippery to work with – lots of pegs needed!
The first sample I made was a flat pouch with handles, in two colours, using macrame square knots. The weave was more open than Lalo’s other bags but closer than the bag Honey bought in Mexico.
Honey liked the weave, and asked me to make a larger version with a flat base, so it would sit flat as part of a retail display.
Weaving a base
Weaving the base was quite challenging. At first I thought I would plait it with the PET tape, but I needed tubular PET for the side weave. So the tape would have to be woven away in the base at the same time as “staking up” with tubular PET, which could be a bit messy.
In the end I made the entire base with tubular PET. It took more experimentation to get the grouping and spacing of the warp and weft to work. Some combinations left large gaps, while others meant that the “stakes” were too close together for the side weave to work.
But finally I hit on the perfect combination. I did a few rows of twining to hold everything together and then put it on the frame to weave the sides.
Weaving the sides
The side weave was straightforward by comparison, but even then I made a couple of errors. I became an expert in undoing a small section for several rows, like unpicking knitting, and reweaving!
At the top I gathered all the stakes together to form the handles and used them as the core for more square knots. They are roomy enough to go over your shoulder as well as over your arm.
I have to admit that I could barely move my hands after weaving for two solid days. But I was very pleased with the result – and so was Honey.
I look forward to seeing similar bags on sale at Lalo sometime in the future!
Your bag design is wonderful. What a great design project. So striking, and I love the bold handles which give it a very contemporary look.
Thanks Mary – I really enjoyed working on this project!
It’s WONDERFUL, Kim! So interesting hearing about the complicated process, love the weave and colours, a real triumph!
Thank you Judy – I do like a challenge! 😉
Love this. Especially the colours.And amazingly difficult to do I know. The ‘plastics really difficult to work with bend you have have very strong flexible hands. Having been and travelled several times in Mexico and around I have seen some incredible things they create eg bags crocheted with yarn and can tabs!! And how first they do it too. You have gone a long way from ECO printing and dying dyes haven’t you!!
Thanks Pipi. I have nothing but admiration for the artisans who work with PET – their hands must be incredibly strong! And as you say, Mexican makers are so creative in their use of materials and what they do with them.
I have just given away most of my indigo dyeing equipment – I need to make space for all my basketry materials!! Interestingly I still forage for natural materials, but different parts, daffodil stalks rather than flowers. 😉