I kept spotting this backpack in Les 3 Vallées and I thought it was awesome because, well, in the words of the late Anthony Bourdain, "you can never have too much cheese, bacon, or starch." Tartiflette is a casserole dish that is local to the Haute-Savoie region in the French Alps. Its main ingredients are potatoes, bacon, and cheese (reblochon to be exact). And yes, it is as delicious and filling as it sounds.
I also liked that the slogan was specific to the region we were in, and so I went on a hunt to find this mysterious backpack. I must have gone into at least 8-10 stores looking for it. None of them had it. But eventually I learned that it was an online thing. It was for the "I like to ski and hang out in chat rooms" crowd, or at least that's how one guy explained it to me. So I went online and ordered it back to Toronto.
It finally arrived today, and I'm looking forward to using it when I snowboard, cycle, and attempt to make tartiflette for the first time. Now I just need to locate some reblochon. (Note to US readers: My understanding is that this cheese is considered contraband in your country because it is unpasteurized and does not meet US import laws. So you may need to find some sort of clandestine cheese market if you want to make it.)
For those of you who also like to ski and hang out in chat rooms, you can find the bag and other merch, here. It's all an extension of the Grenoble-based online magazine, skipass.com.
Architect Rem Koolhaas recently unveiled a backpack that he designed for Prada’s autumn winter 2018 menswear collection.
It looks like this:
It’s more of a frontpack. Actually, maybe the right name is chestpack.
What stood out for me, though – perhaps more than its frontality – was the way that Rem Koolhaas described his reasoning behind the design.
Here is an excerpt from Dezeen:
“Today, waiting in line for a typical airport check of carry-on luggage, it is surprising to note how the shapeless container of the backpack, is inhabited by strict, orthogonal devices like the laptop, the charger, books, toilet bag, and how awkward it is to liberate these objects from their containment in the backpack,” he said.
“This project proposes a reinterpretation of the backpack, more suitable to the contemporary urban citizen,” he continued. “The frontal position gives a more intimate sense of ownership – a better control of movement, avoiding the chain of oblivious collisions that the backpack inadvertently generates.”
Leave it to an architect to talk about a backpack like the wearer is about to go to war.
P.S. I’m a fan of Koolhaas. I just found this funny.
Image: Prada
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