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Eccentric designer Nik Bentel has made a comeback with his viral Pasta Bag design. Last summer, the fashion expert broke the internet with his Barilla-inspired cross bag, but now, he promises an upgrade in the sequel launch of the iconic bag.
Nikolas "Nik" Bentel is a designer who goes beyond fashion to re-imagine everyday objects into spectacular pieces. The product designer, who is a graduate of the Brown-RISD dual degree program, has worked with several brands to bring to life alternate forms of product design.
More about Pasta Bag maker, Nik Bentel?
According to his Instagram bio, Bentel is a "designer of objects, big, small, and in between." He also releases new items every month. The designer, who heavily relies on crafting, often takes a futuristic approach with his ideas. Along with being the brains behind the Pasta Bag, Bentel is also known for the Botticelli dress.
Bentel's inspiration for making his viral Pasta Bag came amid the lockdown, after his 100th bag of penne. He decided to re-imagine the Barilla pack, which morphed into a big-time success. It is noteworthy that this is the first time Bentel is bringing back a limited edition design.
Everything you need to know about the Pasta Bag
Last year, the fashion item first went public when a few Twitter accounts became privy to the optics Bentel had sent to the press. The fashion entrepreneur recalled to Food & Wine that the images that got out made the Pasta Bag go viral.
Bentel realized his crossbody bag had become a hit, following a slew of orders that streamed in through his website. He also stated that the number of preorders he got overshot his budget by a wide margin.
He ultimately had to off the preorders link, because it was getting to the point where he was afraid he might not have many more bags left during the actual launch.
On the day the performance artist launched the Pasta Bag, there was a large turnout of buyers, and according to him, the accessory sold out in ten minutes. Bentel noted that there were about 60,000 people on his website. In retrospect, that spurred the designer to bring back the limited edition crossbody Pasta Bag. He explained his feelings of success:
"I didn't expect it to happen that way at all. I was sitting by myself in my room and I was internally screaming to myself. It was really exciting, especially at 10 a.m. when you've barely had coffee."
The New York-based bag maker considered the success a "humbling" experience, but also acknowledged that not many fashion lovers who had clamored for the leather bag could purchase them. Bentel felt like he needed a fashion sequel, which resulted in the Pasta Bag 2.0 launch on Wednesday, June 8.
Like the original idea, the new Pasta Bag collection is limited edition, carrying only a 100 bags to be precise. However, Bentel made some modifications that included adding more of his own ideas and another pasta brand by the name of De Cecco.
