Project Overview

The Farrah wallet is a piece of "life equipment" a product that is designed for everyday life and made to last a lifetime. It explores the way in which materials can interact, allowing the base material to solve more of the design problem through manipulation rather than machining or changing the core characteristics of the base material, leather.

Organisation

Farrah Design

Team

Tom Farrah - Designer

Project Brief

To design and produce a functional, minimal, slim line wallet with integrated money clip and deliver extraordinary longevity.

After traveling for 5 years internationally Tom Farrah realized that all he wanted to carry was some basic forms of identification, credit cards and cash. Being under 30 at the time Tom realized that in his lifetime and over the lifetimes of people similar in age to himself that exposure to products he knew would last a lifetime had been limited to say the least.

The idea for the Farrah wallet was born and the concept developed over several years to where it is now, a piece of life equipment, an item designed for use in everyday life and constructed to be used for a lifetime.

Project Innovation/Need

Project innovation/need to read:

An unusually thick external layer of leather is used for two reasons, firstly to enable the stitching to be seated subsurface in a channel which eliminates external abrasion and secondly when the wallet is molded shut a strength and rigidity becomes present in the spine of the wallet, this inherent material strength is then utilized by weaving the money clip through the spine enabling the materials to support each other eliminating the need to introduce another material, or more stitching.

The internal layer is made from a thin kangaroo hide, renowned for its strength. The internal kangaroo layer will "billow" when cards are put into the wallet, allowing the internal seams to be separated by the thickness of the cards inside, again minimizing seam abrasion, this time internally.

Design Challenge

The main challenge was to make a wallet that would have an extraordinary life span but also have clean and relevant aesthetics throughout its life time. I believe this has been achieved through the use of the core base materials of stainless steel and leather, their unique interaction in construction delivers a timeless, minimal utilitarian feel.

Sustainability

The Farrah wallet was designed and developed in Melbourne with all materials sourced in Melbourne and construction taking place in the Farrah design studio in Montrose, VIC.