Pentagram’s Angus Hyland & Jon Marshall Give the Tote Bag a Makeover

The pair have collaborated with art supplies retailer Cass Arts and bag manufacturer Bags of Ethics to create new designs that are as beautiful as they are useful.

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Recently shown at the London Design Festival as part of the ‘Bags of Art and Design’ collection, these tote bags are truly special. They come with custom pockets and unique artworks. You can also see prototypes, models, and original art at the exhibition. You’ll soon be able to buy special Cass Art tote bags in some stores.

These reusable bags are made from ethically sourced cotton by Bags of Ethics, and they have an amazing workforce, with over 80% of the employees being women. This all aligns perfectly with Cass Art’s goal to support artists in town.

Thanks to Angus Hyland and Jon Marshall, these bags are both stylish and eco-friendly, making a positive impact.

“The new bags are an evolution from the very popular series of artist’s colour totes that I first designed for Cass Art nearly twenty years ago,” explains Angus. “They’re based on the idea of creating specific bags for specific tasks and are really an extension of the Cass Art retail experience – a wonderfully inspiring cross between a sweet shop and a hardware store.”

What’s really cool is that the central piece of each design is an A3 landscape bag. They’re made this way to perfectly hold a Cass Art drawing pad. Plus, these bags have multiple pockets in different sizes, from A4 to A7.

That’s handy because you can stash all your art supplies like brushes, paint tubes, and drawing pens in them. Some of the bags even have a neat touch – they’re screenprinted with silhouettes of these tools, giving you that artist’s workshop vibe.

“With this project, we had the chance to step into Cass Art’s world of pure joy in making,” says Jon. “The most successful aspect of the collaboration for me was the harmony we achieved between 3D design, material and form married with graphic design, print, proportion and colour, made possible through the dialogue between my team and Angus and his team as well as the extensive prototyping process with Bags of Ethics.”

They didn’t stop at responsibly sourced cotton. These tote bags are printed with eco-friendly inks. The Cass Art bag even comes in those cool artist shades like Prussian Blue, Cerulean Blue, and French Ultramarine. This level of care and thoughtfulness runs throughout the entire collection.

Smruti Sriram, the CEO of Bags of Ethics, says, “We’ve really enjoyed figuring out what makes the perfect bag for artists. Our teams in India worked closely with Pentagram to get all the design details just right.

They even had some great ideas on how to use colorful leftover materials and positioned the screen prints perfectly on the pocket panels.”

“We are also delighted that our longstanding clients at Cass Art have chosen one of the twelve designs to be available for purchase by customers across selected stores later this year.”

Mark Cass, the founder and CEO of Cass Art, chimes in: “We’re thrilled to acknowledge the fantastic 20-year partnership between Cass Art and Pentagram. It’s a celebration of one of our truly iconic Cass Art products.”

“Our totes have been loved and worn with pride for many years, and we’re excited to welcome these beautiful new editions of our tote range – expertly constructed by the wonderful Bags of Ethics team. We look forward to ‘filling this town with totes!’ and a huge thank you to all involved.”

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