Unlike collectors of ashtrays or stamps or owl figurines, it's not always easy for us shopping bag collectors to find others who share our passion. There are no newsletters, no Meet-Up groups, no yearly conventions at the Baltimore Radisson. We're a bit of an underground lot, so when one SBC comes across another, well, it's big news and I'm happy to report that Mlle Bagatelle had just such an experience recently.
Regular visitors to Bagatelle might remember that this past Thanksgiving Mlle B had the good fortune of running into Stephen Moss, designer of the fabulous Jonathan Adler Christmas bag. Well, proving the theory that great, creative people always seem to know other great, creative people, Mr. Moss introduced her to his grad school pal, Cameron Spalding, a fellow graphic designer and possessor of perhaps the world's most fabulous name. Cameron was kind enough to speak recently with Bagatelle about his collection, his craft, and his theories about why shopping bags have such appeal to the people who love them.
Interestingly, this collection started much the way MB's did; somewhat accidentally and while studying in Europe. It was during a fall semester in Rome that Cameron, who was there studying printmaking, first started his addiction collection. While taking a walk he felt what he thought was a large leaf attach itself to his leg and refuse to leave. As it turned out, the leaf was not so much a leaf as a black shopping bag from a wine store somewhere in the city. "How very Italian," Cameron says he thought of the "...sleek, minimally designed" bag and before he knew it, he was having a real American Beauty-so-much-beauty-in-the-world moment. "I thought it was such a beautiful marriage of art and design," he says of the small object and it was this realization as much as the actual "thing" that led him to start seeking out these small treasures. Eleven years and six over-sized plastic IKEA storage boxes later, he has a collection of bags that he estimates to be somewhere in the 2,000 range.
So why did this bag in particular have such an effect on the designer? Why is he now not a collector of old toothpaste tubes or paper towel designs? Cameron explains: "No matter what you buy, you get a bag with it. The bag is part of the identity of the store. You can walk down the street with a Tiffany's bag and you might not have anything in the Tiffany's bag--you could have your socks in it--but everyone knows that that's a Tiffany's bag! I'm intrigued by the stories the bags tell." This combination of unquestionable brand identity with creativity is also part of what attracts him to seasonal bags: "With seasonal bags, you always come back to a theme. You see the line of thought. For example the Christmas bags from Express. They've very colorful and engaging and you can see that they're Express bags from across the street."
Interestingly, Cameron also offered a more visceral explanation as to why someone might be drawn to the sport of bag collecting: "I believe that bags have become the new matchbooks. Not as many people smoke as much anymore and even fewer establishments give out matches. People now seem to keep bags that held something in some special place. It can be fun travel: 'I went shopping in London and used this bag everywhere I went. It REMINDS ME OF...' Also, it can be very touching and emotional. My father received a leather pouch that my grandfather would use when he went hunting. Not as much of a shopping bag but still a container that held something precious. memories can but more valuable than objects and bags have a way of reminding people of that moment, that person, that trip... whatever it may be."
Needless to say, like MB's friends and family, Cameron now has a coterie of enablers enthusiasts who are constantly on the look out for new acquisitions and between their travels and his, the collection now includes bags from Japan, the Czech Republic, Israel, China, Thailand, and just about every other country you can imagine. His mother in particular, who makes frequent trips to Asia, has helped significantly with the Far East wing of his collection. In fact, he says the only part of the world not represented in his collection is Africa, but we're sure it's only a matter of time before he takes care of that. As for domestic acquisitions, he tries, semi-successfully, to limit temptation: "I'm almost afraid to address the small SOHO boutiques!"
So what does the Malcom Forbes of shopping bags choose as his favorite? Well, when first asked, Cameron took the very diplomatic "It's-like-asking-me-to-pick-a-favorite-child" route, but when pressed, he admitted that perhaps some of those children might be higher on the list than others. In his picks he included both the bookish pre-teen who's constantly watching the Discovery Channel as well as the hyper-active second grader who's constantly being yelled at for writing on the desks: one, the oft-admired origami-like Takashimya triangle bag and two, the explosive purple, maroon, and silver foil bag of Zac Posen. He also says he loves bags in which the handle interacts with the image.
Someday Cameron plans to donate his considerable collection to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, but for now, they sit in their IKEA boxes waiting to be taken out for frequent inspiration and inspire they do as you can see by the stunning, creative, and wonderfully humorous work he has so graciously allowed the Bagatelle Museum to feature (all the bag mock-ups on this post are his). We thank him profusely for taking time to speak to us and send our cosmic gratitude out to the winds that carried that fateful Roman wine bag so many years ago.
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