City by the Bay
So in the interest of credibility I will start by saying I work at eBags.com as their videographer…. This will not, and I repeat, will NOT be a blog about colors and patterns and trends I am into, nor will it be an “OMG did you see what that girl was wearing, what was she thinking like ugh!” blog… Perez Hilton has that market cornered. This is more about my adventures (and the subsequent misadventures) of my travels to shoot interviews with designers and companies. Sort of a behind-the-scenes of the behind-the-scenes look at bag designers.
DISCLAIMER: I may say things I don’t necessarily mean just because I think it sounds funny. You do the same thing too, don’t lie….
So my inaugural post is about a recent trip to the left coast…. “Scott,” they said, “Would you be able to shoot some interviews in San Francisco?” After feigning reluctancy to accept this mission for all of 2 seconds, I responded with a “hells yeah let’s do this thing!” After hearing all the stories of how amazing Frisco is, I have to say I was less than impressed. Yes it is beautiful. Yes it is friendly. Yes it is clean. But whatever, can’t I just hate something simply because everyone else loves it? Did I mention I am a sociopath? I feel I should have put that in my disclaimer. Anyway, the point to this story is what you’re after and the point you will get. I had the opportunity to drop in for a video shoot at the San Francisco office of Kleome Bags. And by “drop in” I mean “walk 20 blocks” (turns out there are some hills in Frisco) and by “office” I mean “living room.” This, I found, was a real homegrown company. This was a husband/wife team barely older (or at least in looks) than myself living in this world of artistic creation in the city that they love. I’m 26 by the way (we have a lot of back story about myself to cover that will likely trickle out over the course of my postings)… But again Scotty get to the point… My point is that it is very inspiring to see young people doing what they love. And not only doing it, doing it well. They took the tired, age old design and functionality of a messenger bag, and gave it some style with graphics. And again, I’m not talking some crappy vector art that was decided upon by a comittee of executives who did multiple rounds of focus group feedback sessions before going with some homogenized design with a slight distress and a safe, earth tone gradient. No, Karine designs it, it goes on a bag, it goes to your house, you get all the chicks and/or guys (probably). Their “focus group” is their lifestyle. The real challenge of design is not asking for feedback from target demographics…. It’s being the target demographic.
They always say you gotta design for yourself, and if you “get it” people will get it. Sometimes “they” are right… But then again, sometimes “they” tell you that you will fall in love with San Francisco. In lust, maybe.
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