Bag is Beautiful: What Makes a Bag for Life Great?

Bag is Beautiful: which is your favourite?

As some of you may know, I've got something of a soft spot for supermarkets. No matter how much I am told about their role in perpetuating everything that's bad in society, from environmental destruction to in-work poverty, all of this ill-feeling melts away underneath the reassuring glow of the fluorescent lighting. If for some strange reason you don't share my misplaced love of big retail I suggest you come back next week, when I'll hopefully be looking at something more interesting.

Green Shoots of Growth 

Up Close and Personal with Morrisons' Bag for Life

Still with me? Okay, then allow me to begin. Today I want to give a shout out to Morrisons for their inspiring range of fruit-themed bags for life. That's time, the humble bag for life. It may not hold the answers to how Britain can avoid a triple-dip recession (clue: it's not about an in/out EU referendum) but for it's definitely providing me with some much-needed  green shoots of growth this January?

What's so special about Morrisons' bag for life, I hear you ask? Like all the best things in life, it's something of a mystery. If pushed, I'd have to say it's the supremely bright and breezy colour scheme. The bag pictured centre stage makes great use of green. As students of colour theory will know, green is the colour of nature ans is said to symbolise growth, harmony  freshness and fertility. Could this be the reason I feel so positively predisposed to Morrisions' offering?

The Bauhaus of Supermarket Design

Own Label: Groundbreaking design work from Sainsbury's 

I suspect there's more to my love of Morrisions' bags for life than their colour scheme. Looking at their representations of fruit I'm reminded me of a great book I got for my birthday last year. Own Label tells the story of Sainsbury's groundbreaking Design Studio between the years 1962 and 1977. Flicking through the images contained in the book, I can see parallels between Morrisions style. Sainsbury's designs are arguably more coolly modernist than Morrisions' cartoony illustrations but they both display a willingness to deviate from the pursuit of photorealism. Is my enjoyment of Morrisons' bag simply a bad case of nostalgia?

Whatever the underlying reasons for my fondness of Morrisions' Bags for Life, I'm just glad to know they're out there in the world, doing their thing.

Share Your Views on Bags for Life

What's your take on the current state of the Bag for Life scene? Do you think I'm wrong to lavish so much praise on Morrisons offerings? Maybe I should be focused on a Bag for Life from an up and coming retail outlet instead. Or perhaps I simply need need to get out more. As ever, your thoughts are appreciated.