These upcycled bags give you map to go green

Paper is one of those materials with endless possibilities. Which is why Israeli (and international) designers keep having fun reinventing them over and over again.

Last week we took a look at Guy Lougashi’s recycled paper baskets and recapped some of the other recycled paper products being made by environmentally conscious Israeli designers: wallets made out of product wrappers, a wastepaper basket made out of wasted paper, and even a baby cradle made from paper cardboard.

Anat Safran’s beautiful Infobags – made out of old encyclopaedias, maps, and atlases – are another gorgeous and functional environmentally friendly design product. But unlike the other designs mentioned above, her products actually make you smarter!

Anat first started making her intelligent paper handbags a few years ago when she stumbled upon a French encyclopedia that had been tossed out on the street. Recognizing its aesthetics and potential, she brought it home and started creating infobags and other paper products in all shapes and sizes. Her friends have been collecting appropriately worn out and unique books for her ever since.

In Anat’s own words, “The material defines the size of the bags- it’s due to the size of the page I’m using. I choose a very simple shape for the bags, something that reminds the shape of books. Also a simple shape makes more place for the material to be in the front and for the text and images on it to show better.”