Take

What guided you through this project?

Trent Nesbitt: To start this project I thought about waste streams of products that I interact with. My hope was to find material potential that I could use as a jumping off point. My sort of Ah-Ha moment came when I was climbing at my local gym and saw the recycling bucket for retired climbing rope.

How did your project change throughout the process?

TN: My project was heading in a completely different direction for the first half of its ideation. The only aspects that stayed the same were the hardware details on the side of the bag, and the fact that It was a bag. I was fortunate to receive some strong feedback that sent me in a completely different direction.

What was the biggest challenge you faced?

TN: I think the most challenging part of this project was being thoughtful about adding context to the sustainability efforts demonstrated in the material development. Until I had changed my creative direction completely, I found myself making excuses for sustainable choices that wouldn’t have made sense in a production setting. Things would have taken too long to produce, and the alternative options were far more practical even if they didn’t have “bio” in the title.

What’re you most proud of about Take?

TN: I feel that my greatest success in this project was developing a material that continues the life of a product in a way that doesn’t drastically change the purpose of the material. By taking advantage of retired climbing rope for its material properties, the rope gets a second life where its durability and strength are still the most important characteristics. 

How would you further this project, given the opportunity?

TN: Like all products, I don’t feel like this is finished yet but I am certainly happy with the state it’s in. I would like to improve on the hardware details that bring the bag together, and I would like to find ways to further simplify the bag construction with the goal of using less material.