Building wraps repurposed as premium bespoke bags
On a sunny Saturday back in June our Managing Director Greg had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Griggs AKA Griggsy, Artisan Maker of Griggsy Bags for Vintage Rogues at Bonds Lifestyle Store near Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Griggsy was busy creating in the workshop area of the store and our MD was mesmerised watching her reimagining preloved clothing and saddlery into wearable art and premium fashion accessories. The quality of the creativity and workmanship of the items were second to none and Greg wondered why can’t our smaller digitally printed former building wraps be turned into wearable art too. Larger Embrace printed scaffolding banners already enter our Banner KarmaTM repurposing scheme to start a second life, so why stop there?
Greg & Griggsy had a great exchange about the positive aspects of reuse and repurposing of materials after removal from projects. The following day Embrace shipped eight 1 m2 sections of spent PVC & PVC-free printed wraps to Griggsy to carry out some initial testing. A week later Greg returned to see what could be achieved with the materials and Griggsy had produced several prototypes and shared some valuable insight into how the repurposing our clients’ former building wraps into the fashion world could be achieved.
Coincidentally, Embrace had removed a PVC-free 8m x 5m building wrap from a project for our lovely friends @CarnabyLondon that same week. The design is so delightful that it would have been a terrible waste not to repurpose the wrap into several one-of-a-kind bespoke Griggsy creations. The original banner, designed by Icelandic artists Kristjana S Williams, celebrates key workers by depicting their frontline roles throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Griggsy’s passion and enthusiasm is so infectious that Embrace Building Wraps are delighted to announce our investment into Griggsy Bags, covering the initial set up costs to roll out the fashion repurposing project. This will involve lifting the working design templates onto scaled pdf templates for laser cutting of three styles of bags and a contribution towards the leather & press stud embellishments that form part of the distinctive designs.
To find out more or buy Vintage Rogues’ Griggsy bags please head on over to the Vintage Rogues website, Etsy or pop into the Bonds Lifestyle store. Each piece is made from materials with a story, repurposed and hand-stitched to create a sustainable piece of wearable art with soul.
