This handbag is made from an electrical cord. And yes, you can plug it in
Is there anything uglier than an electrical cord? The long, thick plastic wires create clutter everywhere.
Artist and designer Nikolas Bentel wanted to explore whether something as mundane as an electrical cord could be transformed into something beautiful. And he may have achieved his goal by creating a handbag out of a 25-foot-long bright orange electrical cord. It drops today on his website for $59. He’s glued and molded the cord into the shape of a small basket—all while keeping the wiring intact, so it can still be plugged in and used.
Bentel, 28, is fascinated with helping people to reimagine everyday objects. At his studio, in Locust Valley, New York, he’s created a wacky range of products, including tables made of scraps from a paper mill and a pipe made from a pizza box. In his art, he frequently deploys the skills he acquired from his joint degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design and modern culture and media from Brown. He’s currently working toward a degree in architecture from Columbia.
Lately, he’s been on a handbag-designing kick. In recent months, he’s created a purse from a shipping box, one from a Barilla pasta box, and for another, he collaborated with Absolut Vodka to create the Absolut Espresso Martini Handbag, complete with faux martini glass. “Each of these objects tells a story about its materials and how it was manufactured,” Bentel says. “But as a handbag, it also tells a story about the person using it. Each bag comes with its own little world of stories.”
He came up with the idea of a cord bag one day in the studio as he was fiddling around with electrical cords. It occurred to him that the cords are brilliantly designed: a thick, indestructible plastic exterior that wraps around metal electrical wires. But they are, indeed, unattractive.
In the creating phase, Bentel made 20 different prototypes of a cord bag using various techniques. The ultimate design was made through a careful process of gluing layers of cords together, while molding them into the shape of the basket. And at the top, he connected the plugs to create a little handle. “The goal was to make the bag without ruining the cord itself in any way,” he says. “You can plug the cord into an outlet, if you want. So it can be a cute little holder for your phone while you’re charging it.”
Bentel enjoys making fun, quirky products. But underlying his work is a deeper interest in conceptual art. He’s interested in what happens when you take a boring, everyday object and put it in a different context without changing it too dramatically. Does this handbag suddenly make you see electric cords in a different light? Does it make you appreciate the strength of the materials and the brightness of the plastic color? “You would never bring an electrical cord to a fancy dinner, but if you glue it together a bit, you might bring this with you,” he says.
Bentel and three other employees at his studio handcrafted 100 of these bags, which are available for purchase on his website starting today. When they’re gone, Bentel says he won’t make anymore. Partly because he’s finally gotten bored of handbag design. “I’m ready to take on a different project,” he says. “But it’ll probably be just as goofy.”
(11)
