Laundry-Ironing Bag | Traditional Bamboo Craft

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My final semester project came under the heading “ Impact Edge” which was visualised as a combination of Business strategy with design thinking to design businesses that seek to create social impact profitably. I took up Bamboo Making crafts in the state of Orissa in India and the main aim of the project was based on making an impact by uplifting this craft technique and also the bamboo craftsmen. The project revolved around new possibilities of making products out of bamboo and in particular, bamboo blinds.

During the course of this project, I visited the craftsmen of Orissa and was distraught to see the pitiable conditions they worked in and also the pittance they got for their craft. Their skills were so unique and beautiful, but because of industrialisation, the demand for their handicrafts has declined drastically.

I worked mostly by taking into consideration the customer demand and their needs, their view on handicrafts, their preference for aesthetics and also the practical aspect of the product. I developed several prototypes to get an effective and efficient design for a product.

After a lot of trial & errors and experimentations, I finally developed a product worthy to be offered in the market – A functional bamboo/cloth Laundry & Ironing bag. This concept was meant to have two different uses;

The first being a Laundry bag, where the bamboo frame could be hung behind doors or on windows(as a blind) and the cloth bags removed and taken to the washing area with a second set of cloth bags there to replace the ones gone for a wash.

The second one to be used as an Ironing bag, where again it could be hung and used to keep the washed clothes meant for ironing. The cloth bag could be used to send clothes to the dhobi (Ironing man), and also get the ironed clothes back in it, flat and sealed with a button on the flap. This bag would do away with the use of bed covers/ sheets/ cloth used to carry the ironed clothes.

Laundry Bag