Luxury accessories made in NYC from Japanese materials

Before Nicole Kwon founded her multi-vendor boutique in Dallas‘ West Village, aptly named the Nicole Kwon Concept Store, she spent time working in fashion design between London and NYC. To meet a need she’s observed in the market, Kwon has now released her own line of luxury handbags, taking into consideration honest sustainability. Crafted in NYC from non-woven Japanese fabrics, KWONN bags are both PVC- and toxin-free and made from plant-based polymers. They’re also beautiful, lightweight and hand-washable.

“I always dreamed of designing an innovative product one day, but it didn’t come to me until about five years ago when I became much more aware of the seriousness of climate change and how it will affect humans, animals, and Mother Nature alike,” Kwon shares with us. “I did some research and realized that output from luxury leather goods accounts for 800,000 tons of toxic waste from chrome-tanning facilities. That waste ends up in our planet’s landfills and waterways every year.” When she’d go to markets to acquire products for her store, Kwon noticed a void in the authentic, sustainable handbag sector and sought to fill it.

“It was imperative to me that the bag I designed was ethically sourced, washable, and durable so people could wear them for life,” she continues, acknowledging many of the ways that handbags end up as waste. Then, sourcing material became a process of trial and error. “I started by going to textile shows in Paris and Italy and ordered sample yardage from many different vegan suede mills while simultaneously explaining my mission to them,” she says. “I carefully dissected how each material was made. I tested washing and wearing the samples for several years over and over again before finding the perfect material in Japan, which was finally up to standard.” As Kwon notes, the fabric is also very soft and luxuriant to the touch.

Kwon has found herself in the position of educator as well as designer. “It is challenging because many vegan leather handbag brands are promoting their brand as ethically made when they are actually not,” she says. “Most of those bags are made with PVC and phthalates which are harmful to humans and to the environment. I do feel the need to explicitly make clear that my collection is both toxin-free and PVC-free so the consumer can make the differentiation.”

With all of these ethical decisions guiding the brand, Kwon admits that the design process that follows is quite personal. “I sketch what I would want in a handbag from an aesthetic and functional standpoint and then I quickly jump into pattern-making and make the samples myself,” she explains. “I personally love a handbag that isn’t too structured and has a bit of a natural drape which I think works well, visually speaking, on a sustainable and Earth-conscious bag. I value the hand and silhouette when it comes to design, so it usually takes several samples before I get it right.”

The colors in KWONN’s debut collection—which range from camel, copper and peach to mint and blue—feel earthy and appropriate. “Last year, I went to Palm Springs and the towering canyons that you always seem to be driving into never cease to move me,” Kwon says. “I created a color palette for this collection inspired by that desert. I love to explore and find myself getting ideas by my surroundings in new places.” Beyond the development of her natural color palette, Kwon’s inspirations grow even more personal. “I have a baby boy and a golden retriever at home,” she says. “They are both a huge inspiration for me on the sustainability front. For me, childlike and animal innocence inspire a drive for environmental preservation.” This sentiment will undeniably resound with many.

Images courtesy of KWONN

While climate change is on the rise, plenty of designers, inventors, companies and even industrialists are fighting to reverse that. Here are the stories on sustainability that stuck out this year:

As so-called “Eco-Friendly, 100% Compostable” takeout containers have been found to contain harmful cancer-linked chemicals, there’s actually a massive design opportunity presenting itself.

A Japanese consortium produced a concept car to show that they can make interior and exterior automotive panels out of wood–at 1/5th the weight of steel, but five times stronger.

Aluminum can be recycled infinitely, and creating new aluminum is bad for the planet. So if you’re going to design something new, useful and desirable, please make it out of recycled aluminum cans.

Thanks to Bill Gates’ deep pockets, a company called CarbonCure has figured out novel way to make concrete more green.

While there’s a ravenous global demand for concrete, there are alternatives. One eco-friendly breakthrough comes in the form of these fireproof, Lego-like Hempcrete blocks.

Israeli company UBQ Materials has figured out how to turn household garbage into injection-moldable thermoplastic. Just incredible.

A team of Canadian students invented the Hoola One, a machine that can harvest microplastic from beaches.

Plastic bags are recyclable, so why can’t we throw them in recycling bins? PBS explains.

In Southeast Asia, some supermarkets have developed an eco-friendly, plastics-free way for supermarkets to package vegetables

It would incentivize people to stop using plastic utensils if there was a well-designed, portable and desirable alternative. Well, now there is, and it’s called Magware

The Unocup is a folding-top takeout coffee cup that needs no plastic lid. We also covered its (successful) launch on Kickstarter.

While we’re busy screwing up the Earth, at least people are recycling in space. Astronauts on the ISS will use a “Space Recycler” machine that turns waste into 3D printer feedstock.

Lastly, a clever move by a small-town newspaper: Printing a full-page pattern, to ensure it’s upcycled as wrapping paper.

Essentially a modified reissue of their self-titled debut album from earlier in 2019, Injury Reserve (Taylor Skye Remixes) serves up beloved tracks like “Koruna & Lime” and “Jailbreak the Tesla” with unexpected twists. The raucous, energetic album becomes surprisingly ambient and, at times, nearly unrecognizable, aside from the track’s lyrics. Listening to both versions back-to-back proves entertaining thanks to London-based producer Taylor Skye and Injury Reserve’s innate ability to produce tracks with the potential for reinterpretation.

The time has come! The 2019 Core77 Ultimate Gift Guide winners have officially been selected. This year we’re excited to be giving away two fantastic prizes to two lucky readers, all thanks to Sonos. The Community Choice Winner (aka the guide that received the most votes from the Core77 audience) is taking home a Sonos Move portable speaker. The Editor’s Pick, one guide selected by the Core77 editorial team, will be gifted a new Sonos One SL home speaker!

This year’s grand prizes, provided by Sonos!

*Drumroll please…*

Our 2019 winners are as follows:

Community Choice Winner

The Core77 audience has spoken—Kelly Custer’s “Gifts That Will Move ‘Em” was a clear favorite that got readers moving and motivated to vote! This guide has a fun range of transportation-related gift options for adults and children alike.

Editor’s Pick

There were a number of wonderfully curated guides with products we actually would want to receive this holiday season, but we really got a kick out of Tiffany Do’s “Little Big Things” article for its funny captions, clever theme, and seriously covetable (and reasonably priced!) gift options.

A big thanks to our readers for submitting such thoughtful guides year after year, and happy holidays from the Core77 team! 

If you want to check out the full list of 2019 gift guides from our editors and readers, you can find them here. 

To make things more convenient for cyclists, in Denmark they have these tilted trash cans next to bike paths:

If we zoom in and lighten the photo, we can get a better look at the mounting bracket:

I was surprised to see the nut; I’d thought there might be a tool-less locking handle there, so that the city workers could lower the can for emptying, but I suppose there are cost constraints.

GIving it further thought, I guess the container can never get truly full. And while this is great UX for cyclists, it might be inconvenient for the workers to empty, as they either have to carry a wrench or empty the can at an angle.

Hmm–since they’re already using existing cans, might it have been better to leave the can flat, and add some sort of directional lid? Or is this the best (or easiest, or cheapest, or quickest) way to achieve this result?