Who doesn’t love Friday? It is typically my favorite day of the week. Everyone at work is cheerful, you might have a date for lunch, you talk about your plans for the weekend… Wouldn’t it be nice to have Friday every day? OR EVEN, carry it on your back? Welcome to my world. I own a Freitag. That’s Swiss for Friday and is also the name of a European bag and accessory manufacturer.

Europeans like their messenger bags. I think any city-dweller does, though. Everyone (not just purse-bearing women) needs someway of holding and carrying their belongings when there is not a personal vehicle in which to stuff. Not too long after I started living in Germany for my semester away, I decided to go on a quest looking for the perfect messenger bag for me. Actually I knew I wanted/ needed one before I left the states. I knew that I would be without a place to put things for hours upon end but would still need access to my laptop or camera or books or writing utensils, etc. It was a must. I searched all over the internet, the shopping centers, the luggage stores. There didn’t seem to be something that would fit all my criteria. The bag needed to be durable. It would have to withstand the rain, the wear and tear of it being on the ground and the strain of being stuffed to the max with heavy items. It had to be functional but not to the extent of a Swiss Army Knife. I grew up with simple backpacks for grade school. One Jansport I owned had just two pockets. There was no worrying about where things were kept. It had only two options: one big compartment and a proportionally smaller but equally useful one. My third requirement was that the bag had to be spectacularly beautiful. There are so many options for bags out there that there is no excuse not to be able to pick the color and style and feel of this long-term accessory. For a city-dweller, it represents the same thing a car does to a suburbanite. It is your home away from home and everyone can see it. Not to say that I want to impress anyone. I do not. It is just something with which comes many options and why not choose the best you can? One that will last long and not be a trendy impulse-buy.

So with that said, I began to fancy the Freitag brand. I cannot remember how I came across this carrier but once I visited their online store and experienced the passion they bestowed upon each of their unique creations, I couldn’t help but start to grow attracted to them. Seriously, take a look at their website. They have a wealth of information about how they got their beginnings, images and descriptions about their philosophy and process and a not-to-shabby interface.

What makes Freitag bags so special is how they are constructed. You’ll note from the images that the materials used are very specific to how they are used. It is a very simple and minimalist design. Recycled (and thoroughly cleaned) shipping truck tarps (they have them in Europe) are what make up the body of the bags. Each bag template is hand cut by their designers with every face of the bag, inside and out, carefully considered. You can imagine the endless possibilities of color and shape that everyday company logos and advertising can offer. Second, the edges of the canvas are concealed by bike tubes. If you’ve ever changed out the tire on your bike you are familiar with the smooth black rubber inner-tube beneath the treads. Finally, old car-seat belts are used for the carrying and support straps, smartly sewed to the canvas and paired with heavy-duty clamps and clips. Viola. Every bag is different from the rest.

They now produce over 40 different bag types, ranging from wallets to briefcases, laptop bags to duffel bags. Brothers and designers Markus and Daniel Freitag have really done well to turn their need of a perfect bag into a profitable business. And as a bonus, since they were trained as graphic designers, the Freitag brand features really superb info-graphics and a recognizable style.

I was sold. And to seal the deal, when we were touring Amsterdam, our urban district walking tour guide sported a nice blue Frietag. It was the first time I had seen one of their bags in person and I made sure to ask our guide all about it. She loved it. I knew I would too. That night while in the shopping district, we stumbled (read: scoured and finally fell) upon a luggage shop that featured the prodigal bags. While the only had 1o or 15 pieces for sale, the one I chose is still a winner in my book. I had my heart set on a completely grey canvas bag. But the color red on this one was so vivid and luring. I could not pass it up. And besides, the shape on the front is clearly a portion of the letter “S”. DONE.

I have since enjoyed my Freitag for a little over two years now. It has more than served its purpose, carrying well over its share of items and staying resilient to anything thrown its way. It also creates a nice conversation piece.

Inside I most usually am able to stuff my mac (in it’s own padded case), the charger, an external hard drive, a book, a moleskine and magazines in the big pocket and many a writing stick in the front pocket. It also does well to hold my camera or a lunch or just about anything imaginable. While I have not used this feature much, it also has the capability for the inner liner to draw out and, with the extra velcro, nearly double its carrying capacity.

I was in a bit of a hurry when I bought it and never had the chance to peek at what seemed to be a very cool user manual and owner’s guide. Only yesterday did I finally take it out and examine its contents. It was like I was reunited again in the joy of ownership. The Freitag team really put in the time and effort to make each of their products worthwhile from front to back.

I will admit. I may be a little obsessive. It is in part because my Freitag is practically perfect in every way. But maybe more so because I spent a good two hours last night rummaging through a very large bag filled with ticket stubs, receipts, flyers, notes, brochures, bar tabs and other treasured memorabilia that I kept from my time in Europe. I am trying to think of a way to display or archive it all. There is about 5lbs of it. Any ideas?

Until then, I will take this one piece with me daily, enjoying my most valued material possession from the 2008 Spring semester:

Special thanks to the neutral background of a certain IKEA Kramfors sofa.

Check out these really super tourism posters by The Heads of State.

Yesterday T & I made a fantastic discovery of a little art+floral shop on lower Greenville – just what we’ve been looking for. It’s called ‘bows & arrows’ and is right across from Lula B’s Antiques. You should definitely check it out if you’re in town. The owners and newly relocated couple, Alicia and Adam Rico come from Brooklyn and have really done a great job setting up shop.

The space is long and narrow, with simple gray walls and wood floors making way for the creative displays all about. It has a very modern, home-made, edgy feel to it. In addition to the etsy-style items and flower arrangements on sale, the wall space is utilized for work of a local artist.

Here’s a link to their website and blog.

As for the photos, please excuse the quality. I gave them a boost in photoshop but there’s only so much the iPhone’s camera can handle.

Today I bought a new wallet. My old one was one I purchased in Amsterdam last Spring. It was from H&M and was a nice blue on the outside, and BRIGHT yellow on the inside, made complete with a coin pouch. Great for for the coin dollar Euros (oh how I miss Europe). Anyway, it was beginning to get a bit worn and discolored. But we had a great life together. Then, T told me about these PANTONE wallets she saw at the Dallas Museum of Art a few weeks back and I have not been able to think of anything else. Between my work hours and the museums open hours, I hadn’t been able to stop by to take a look but finally today (Thursdays), when the museum is open till 11 (design store still 9) I had the opportunity. I illegally parked out front (and there are so many cops around downtown – so I had to make it quick) and rushed inside to see it. It was love at first sight. It is basically my favorite color red, for those who know, and I bought it instantly. woo. It’s a bit (read: a lot) smaller than the previous, but it will just force me to carry less junk around. Minimalism, right. Bright red (traffic cone, squash, goldfish) minimalism. And fortunately for me, it’s first use didn’t involve me pulling out my ID for my parking taboo.

On a related note, as I was rushing through the museum to the store, I noticed how incredible it was inside. Reminded me of a mini MoMA. So we will for sure hit that up sooner than later. Maybe Sunday?

Check out what I got today! My very own, driftingcreatives t-shirt. After graduating college with little prospects in this recession, Gavin Braman and Martin Hooper have been traveling across the country meeting and interviewing with designers, seeing the sights of new cities and doing design work to sustain their minimal budget. It is a pretty awesome adventure, indeed. And it is all coming out of a Honda Element.

They have done a great job of keeping a video blog of their travels. You can read more about them and find out where they will be next (maybe you can let them couchsurf) here: http://driftingcreatives.com

via Makr by Northern Lights. As seen on FormFiftyFive.

Here’s a very interesting video about the Kluge Letterpress. It’s 550 year-old printing technology, set out by Gutenberg. It reminded me of some of Dick Van Dyke’s character’s inventions from the film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I have recently purchased silk screen printing equipment/supplies as I have been wanting to experiment with this hands-on world of printing. There is just something about the process that makes you appreciate the digital methods we are so used to. I decided that for my first test subject, I would create customized “thank you” cards from all the graduation gifts I have received. I am using the left over envelopes from my graduation announcements and purchased cream-colored cardstock. Needless to say, the trial has been an epic fail / major learning experience. From the images below you can sort of see my process, as tedious (read: unnecessary) as it is, and the suspects for the errors.

I am using all Speedball® products as they seem to be the industry standard/best. This specific process involves using a screen (I bought the 10×14) and your design. In my first attempt, I simple-mindedly cut the design out of cardstock and used the Screen Drawing Fluid to paint onto the screen with the stencil. Well, the Drawing Fluid bled everywhere on the screen under the stencil, so that was a no go. I then carefully painted the Drawing Fluid on the design after tracing in on the stencil with a pencil. This took forever and even longer to let dry and ensure it was solid. After it dried, I used the Screen Filler and (as the instructions said) made one pass with the squeegee to coat the entire screen. This dried and I sprayed out the Drawing Fluid with cold water. I was pretty stoked as it looked like this would work well. Little did I know what went wrong. I set it all up, purchased the printing paper, cut it all to size to fit the envelopes, prepared my work space, complete with screen blocks (to ensure I placed the screen and paper in the same place each time), and mixed some water-based ink to a desired color. I placed the screen over the paper, spooned out some ink on the screen, squeegeed, and removed the screen. FAIL. The paper was mostly covered with ink. Turns out the Screen Filler needed a heavier coating to fully cover and mask out the excess. ug.

I have since then looked up alternative screen printing methods. I think I will try this former method again, but with a simplier design. As for now, I was considering contracting out the job of putting an emulsion on my screen to a local printing company but we have nothing like that close by. I cannot wait to move to Dallas. So until then, and for this project, I am going to use the newbie method of cutting the design out of wax paper, place the stencil directly under the screen and over the paper, and ink it then and there. The ink with make the stencil stick to the screen and I should hopefully be able to get 20-30 prints out of it. Here goes and wish me luck…