The artist turning old Louis Vuitton bags into pieces of furniture Sarah Coleman reworks iconic logos and patterns on everyday items

Giving a second life to products is a rising trend in streetwear culture, especially now that sustainability and pre-loved items are in the spotlight. From Ancuta Sarca to Nicole McLaughlin's crazy slides, more and more young creatives marry upcycling and DIY philosophy to create interesting projects. 

Sarah Coleman is the latest to have become very popular. The artist is known for her ability to turn Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands' bags into small household items or furniture. The destruction of a Fendi Baguette or an LV Keepall may seem a fashion crime to many, but for the 30-year-old New Yorker, those are just raw materials to shape. 

Sarah disassembles the bags piece by piece and covers the new models with their canvas. Everything in each bag is recycled: handles decorate the backrest and nylon goes under the seats to reinforce them, and also labels, zippers, etc. are used... Everything that remains covers small household items. 

More recently, in fact, the artist has started to customize with the most famous prints of LV, Gucci, Fendi, Prada various objects such as plungers, matchboxes, bottles, coffee cup holders, bottles of pills, patches, lighters, ... so many to occupy every corner of her apartment in Greenwich Village. 

Someone compared Sarah's work to Marcel Duchamp's ready-mades, while others didn't appreciate her irreverent approach to famous brands, although she said:

It's not because of the label. It's fun taking something that I can find, something used, and taking it apart, and creating something beautiful from it. I like looking at beautiful things.

Her creations are true pieces of art.

They're each different; they're signed, they have their own number, they're art pieces…I’m not trying to mass produce the same chair.