Ally Capellino 2017 Bag Collection Inspired by Colourful Plastic Chairs

Sometimes when you’ve got to come up with a new idea you need to think outside the box. A long way outside of it. In the case of Ally Capellino’s new bag collection it was a chair that inspired her. A plastic chair. Actually, several plastic chairs. Her quirky and colourful bags are based on chairs she found while traveling through Keral, India. So intriguing were these chairs, she documented them in a blog post. Roll forward four years and she pulled out the long lost inspiration and repurposed it for the bold colours and simple forms of her bag designs.

“These chairs had a character and attitude just from the way they were positioned,” said the designer. “They were sociable, proud, dejected or loners. There are quite a few chairs on their knees or beyond repair, as well as some of the more perky ones.”

The real beauty about design is the ability to translate an idea or an image, those little moments that capture your attention and superimpose that onto the creative field you work within. But it takes a real genius to translate it into something tangible. Whilst chairs might not strike a cord with everyone, they certainly made an impact on Capellino.

“I’ve always been fascinated with chairs in general, I used to have a dozen or so of the Robin Day plastic chairs, used for various displays in the shop and around the studio,” said the designer.

The shoot for the collection was done in conjunction with her daughter inside Ernö Goldfinger’s Haggerston School in East London using the Robin Day chairs designed in the 60’s. The chairs were the backdrop for her bag collection. And the models, “the dysfunction family group” posing with the chairs were the perfect reflection of the many personalities of the chairs she’d gathered in her mind all those many years ago.

The Chairs collection is set for release in Spring/ Summer 2017.