TA Bags is an excellent design range of wallets, bags and belts from urban waste made in Portugal. Wallets, bags, and belts are made from old milk/juice cartons and coffee packaging. TA Bags bring new life to urban wastes, taking advantage of their shapes, design and quality to make very solid wallets, bags and accessories. All products are hand-made or sewn in Portugal in a small production and wastes are collected locally. Check out the TA Bags store on Etsy here.

Recently came across the Le Cool travel guides. They are a refreshing take on the travel guide book format and cover Barcelona, London, Madrid, Lisbon, and Amsterdam. Definitely worth a look. See examples of the Barcelona travel guide below.

The Spanish Pavilion for Expo Shanghai 2010 really is a work of art. The concept of the building is based on the handicraft of making wicker baskets, a handicraft evidnet in both China the expo hosts and Spain. See the an extract about the concept from the architects Miralles Tagliabue EMBT below.

“The project proposed by EMBT consists on developing the handicraft technique of the wicker into a practice of construction. With this goal in mind, the universal language of the material works to build a bridge between East and West, and among Spain and China. With the volumetric, material, and structural inspirations of a wicker basket array, the void of the stands will mold a pavilion in which tubular metallic supports will sustain a wicker grid that will filter the light and function as a climatic membrane that wraps the pavilion.”

It really is a spectacular pavilion and worth checking out in greater detail on the EMBT website.

image courtesy miralles tagliabue EMBT

image courtesy miralles tagliabue EMBT