After our initial brainstorm, we began to finalize the design details of our organizer. As this was going to be used for school, we decided to create five pockets. One for a laptop, one for folders, one for an iphone, a small miscellaneous bag and a large miscellaneous bag. We then began the sketch up templates and cut them on the laser printer out of denim. However, we then to make alterations to the demensions to make them larger as we did not account for seam allowances, and therefore had to re-cut all of the templates out of a cotton fabric. After laser cutting all of the bag templates, we sewed the bags together, creating our first iteration. We realized that for our final we would have to change a few demensions to make the organizer longer. Overall, the iteration was succesful and represented our design well. After, we began to sew the rubber inner tubes together to create the fabric for our organizer. This took a full day and a half as every piece of rubber had to be washed, dried and sewn together. After completing the first sheet of the rubber material, we realized that we did not account for the weight of the rubber. This extra weight would make our organizer extremely heavy and impractical. Therefore, we decided that we would create a bag instead of an organizer. This would allow us to use the rubber we had already sewn together, and would lessen the weight. We then made a new template on sketch up and hand cut the rubber to the paper template. We decided to further lessen the weight of the bag, we would create a design that would cut out some of the rubber. We wanted a design with some movement, to counterbalence the stiffness of the rubber. Harper designed a flowy line pattern that incorperates the movement concept. After, we then cut this design out of the rubber in the laser cutter. After washing the rubber again, we sewed a red backing onto the back of both of the designs. Next, we sewed the lining (also red) into the bag, and finished sewing the bag together. The final product looks like a pretty typical tote bag (dementions are 14 x 17in) . The only difference is that it's made out of bicycle inner tube. The contrast between the black material and the bright red flowy pattern also gives it a pretty dramatic flare.  

In terms of sustainability, this material is great. It's waterproof and very durable. This is a bag that would last for a very long time. Yes, the material is a pain to work with, but this studio has been a good example of how if you're willing to endure labor that's a bit more intense, you can make something that is healthier for the environment, more durable and pretty unique looking too!