Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Lifestyle Review | Gaston Luga, That Swedish Minimalist Backpack That Is Stylishly Functional


You kept me close, you kept me warm, you kept me company and 
kept my letters of adventurous journeys so vividly colourful that 
what is there not to love about you? To journey beyond your eyes and mind is 
to understand the true essence of discovering one true self ... 
and yet, after all there is to explore out there, 
one comes back home to the unfamiliarly familiar
That perhaps, is one of our greatest adventures yet, one fine day.
What better way to go on an adventure with a trusted companion
that looks stylishly sleek and yet is a work horse and
come back home full of great memories.

Visual via Gaston Luga Online

We have always been fascinated by Scandinavian design aesthetics, especially its minimalistic and simplicity towards making things look elegantly refined, yet they do not seem to lose their charm on someone like us, it is equally captivating and mesmerising how they could seem to pull it off effortlessly *_^ When Gaston Luga, a Swedish backpack retailer (here for more) located in the heart of Stockholm approached us to explore if we are keen to collaborate with them, we were pleasantly surprised but all too happy in fact to have a further look into the brand. Once we read their brand story (here) and discovered more of their varied ranges for both men  (here) and women (here), we were enthralled by the idea of owning one already. After a few exchanges of email correspondences, our preferred choice of Gaston Luga Pråper Pink arrived in slightly less than a week! 

Visual via Gaston Luga Online

From our browsing on the brand's official website, we realised that Gaston Luga's uniquely designed backpacks fit into quite a variety of settings from their 3 main collections - ClässicClässy and Pråper. Our first impression of the backpacks via their social media platforms and online presence was that they are definitely chic looking. The designs are, to say the least, pleasing to the eyes, aesthetically. It got our interested piqued when we read more about the sturdy canvas materials that are used to produce each backpack. 




Our Gaston Luga Pråper Pink, when first unboxed seemed way too cool - a mix of dark black and pink with gold accents! The first thing that caught our eyes was the gold brand name plate and its metal hook closure. The brand pays a great deal of attention to details when it comes to the design part of the backpack. 



The body is made of thick, strong canvas, cotton and vegan leather for durability and better water resistance. That is pretty neat and evident, which is also one of the reasons that we like about the backpack, solid kind of feel (though it does add to the weight by itself without any content). The other favourite thing we love about our backpack is the 4 levels of adjustable metal hook, thoughtfully designed to allow different packing needs and volume of content. For us, we feel it fits a one-day trip or even a short weekend getaway, which we did pack for during one of our outstation work trips for 3 days previously.


Apart from the adjustable metal hook closure, there is also draw strings to pull the opening of the backpack together, to keep the backpack safe. It works for us somehow as it allows flexibility for packing. Inside, there is an inner 13-15" laptop compartment (good choice if one travels for work), 2 smaller inner pockets which can be used to store items like phone or wallet if you wish. Now here comes the unique part of a Gaston Luga backpack design. On the back of the backpack is the "safety" pocket which is cleverly concealed once you carry your backpack on your body. It is a pocket sizeable enough to hold your passport, travel documents or other important belongings that need to be kept safe yet easy accessible while travel. We thought this is such a great idea!


The inner lining is made of soft and luxurious 100% cotton fabric. Under the backpack we noticed four metallic small little feet, giving it the extra protection and less chances of getting it dirty. Since we were travelling locally and was on another one-day working trip, we used that back "safety" compartment to store our external drive. It tugged in just nicely there. Well, we packed quite a fair bit of our belongings in there mind you. It does weigh down the load of our backpack and we did feel the weight once it was on our shoulder. By the way, the adjustable shoulder strap does feel comfortable though, despite the weight of the backpack, which is a good news. Gaston Luga offers a variety of coloured address tags, which you can purchase separately if you wish to own one.

Overall, we love our very first backpack with Gaston Luga and could not have asked for more. The only little qualm was that we wish for the brand to innovate more in the future and see how to make it slightly more lightweight yet not compromising the existing quality of the materials used. We know, we know, it is a tough call, but just a little request on our little wish list *_^


Oh, on another note, we have not really tested the backpack out in severe weather conditions like on a rainy day and what if the backpack got wet, whether it would leave marks of stain on the canvas. That is something that remains to be discovered (it looks so luxurious a backpack that we don't even want it to get close to anything that would stain it a single bit, to be honest *_^).

There you go, our thought on this chic looking work horse. A huge thanks to Gaston Luga for such a lovely backpack. Our backpack is retailed at MYR899 (13cm x 42cm x15cm, 18L).


For those who are interested in this backpack (or any other one for that matter), you can surf over to www.gastonluga.comfree shipping (DHL Express of Fedex) + Swedish VAT (currently at 20%) is automatically deducted from the price of the backpack (shipping from non-EU country). After that, you can use our special promotion code "luminnej15" to enjoy an additional 15% discount. It is charged at your local currency. Such a great offer, no?

Price Calculation:
RM899 - RM179.80 20% VAT - RM107.88 15% discount code with lumminej15
Discounted price at RM611.32

So shop away with the good deal, lovelies. We hope that you will find one Gaston Luga backpack of your choice and will enjoy using it as much as we do with ours here.

Looking forward to more adventures with this little pink black one. To discover more about the brand, you can follow their stylish Instagram feeds here or their Facebook page here. Till then, have a great new week ahead!

With love, 
Jeann
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Thanks so much for dropping by and say hi. Love to hear your thoughts and will read them all! See you again *_^

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