By Ann Bilot
Wallpaper
March 9, 2017
Kimberly and Nancy Wu, the sisters behind Building Block — the Los Angeles-based, minimalist handbag line with a cult following — are looking back at their industrial design roots for the brand’s S/S 2017 collection. Kimberly, who worked as an exterior automotive designer at Honda in Tokyo, and Nancy, who was once based in Oregon as a footwear designer for Nike, experimented with new materials and colourways for this season, applying clear PVC plastic and grey and lilac leather to their designs.
‘Building Block’s S/S 2017 collection makes reference to our shared, previous careers as industrial designers,' say the duo. ‘The season’s monochromatic colourways such as concrete, lilac, and clear are explicitly smooth to the point of seeming simulated by 3D rendering software. This relationship between the artificiality of computer-generated imagery paired with our geometrical silhouettes reveal the purity in construction of each bag archetype.’
The clear PVC fabrication adds a playful, voyeuristic element to Building Block's designs, while the neutral grey and lilac leather provide a softer spring like approach. Finishes in rubber add a further industrial edge to the pieces, which include rubber straps, a drawstring detail that ties using a leather tassel and a rubber ball, or another which resembles a practical cable tie.