Techno Handbags

Article: "Techno Handbags" (No Author/No Date) [21st Century: Technology]

The article discussed the problem that some women may face when reaching into their purses late at night trying to find something they need and not being able to find it in the darkness of their purse. The international leather and bag company BREE set out to make a bag which not only had an illuminated interior, but also kept up with the elegant fashion of their line of bags. BREE used technologies developed by Bayer Polymers which used “Smart Surface Technology” to help and illuminate the inside of their bag. Bayer Polymers is a large manufacturer of plastic and is working with electroluminescence (EL), which creates light by chemicals using the same principles that fireflies use then they light up. They created a film which lights up upon contact with a voltage to produce the electroluminescence light. “Scientists use the term EL to refer to a method of generating light that fireflies have been masters of all along - albeit by chemical means. In contrast to fireflies, engineers use a film that lights up on application of a voltage to achieve EL light generation.” This new technology produces no heat and the Smart Surface Technology allows this film to be shaped in many different ways to be more versatile, whereas before this new technology the film was limited in size and dimensions of how large it could light up an area. This technology is currently being tested and used in automotives to illuminate the instrument panel and the inside of cars. Eckard Foltin, head of the Creative Center at Bayer Polymers, polled the females that he worked with and found out that this new Smart Surface Technology should try to be used in handbags to help women find things in their bags at night. This is when Foltin partnered up with BREE who had the same dreams in mind. The finished product is currently being guarded heavily as this type of illuminated light is the first of its kind. BREE has plans to place the handbag out on the market later this year. Philip and Axel Bree, the owners of BREE, see this technology as something very useful and believe that “In less than five years, interior light will be just as common in handbags as mobile telephones are today.”

http://www.21stcentury.co.uk/technology/techno_handbag.asp