| Felt Accessories from Southern Germany |
In 2004, the German designers Wibke Fleischer and Christian Freissler got their first iPods. Ever since they have been looking for nice and well designed bags and sleeves to go with them. Soon Wibke and Christian came across little sleeves made from felt. But they were mostly of poor quality and missing the certain attention to details.
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The Idea
On one of their long trips between southern and northern Germany in the summer of 2005, the idea was born to come up with a small collection of natural wool felt bags for iPods and other beloved electronic companions they were taking along. Christian's mom is a passionate seamstress, and so it didn't take long to design and produce a first lineup of bags for testing.
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Design
The bags are simple and made from 100% natural wool felt, which should be the preferred material for every bag designed between now and then. Wibke and Christian always try to find forms and expressions that go well with the material. Seams and fixtures are a handcrafted detail and not just a method to hold to pieces together. It soon became obvious, that these bags will be a handmade product that needed the love and attention from experienced seamsters. They needed a local production shop that will pay attention to the little things and handselect materials and methods.
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The goal was to have a first collection ready for the holiday season 2005. Time was short, so the only possibility was to use Christian's mom for the production of the bags. She gathered a few other passionate seamsters from the area and started right away. The feltbags Manufaktur was born.
Today, feltbags is run by Christian's brother Jochen Freissler. Along with their mother Helene, who is head of production, Jochen organizes all sales and brand activities.
feltbags is still producing locally in Southern Germany. We focus on small numbers and preserve our handcrafted appeal. Every feltbag is a unique handmade product that was cut, sewed and finished by local seamsters, using mostly local materials. We are maintaining a sustainable business approach and try to optimize our process every day.
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| Designer |
Over the past five years, an international cast of designers has been invited to contribute their ideas to feltbags:
Wibke Fleischer, Germany/USA
Christian Freissler, Germany/USA
Jan Hippen, Germany
Berit Burmester, Norway
Ildefonso Resuello, USA
Oved Valadez USA/Mexico |
| Thank you! |
| We would like to thank all our friends around the world for their input and support: Steffi, Fiede, Florian, Peter, Berit, Jan, Nori, Dave and Oved. |
| Featured |
Our bags are or have recently been featured at these blogs, magazines and galleries:
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