nik bentel turns wes anderson’s pastry box from grand budapest hotel into pink leather bag

Mendl’s pastry box from wes anderson’s grand budapest hotel

Welcome to Nik Bentel’s bubblegum-pink world and its newcomer, The Bentel’s Box Bag, a transformation of the signature and fictional Mendl’s pastry box into a pink leather handbag with colors and text styles inspired by Wes Anderson’s aesthetics and movies. Nik Bentel, who recently put Anicorn’s watch onto a mini wearable briefcase, recreates the Mendl’s pastry box from the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel as a sling handbag with a hollow inside, so the wearer can cram all the objects they can fit in the box, including a small water bottle.

Commenting about his recent project, Nik Bentel tells designboom that as a studio, he and his team aim to tell stories. ‘One of the ways we tell stories is to push a narrative into something tangible, to truly be able to touch and feel something, engage multiple senses, and elevate one’s storytelling to a whole new level. In picking The Grand Budapest Hotel, what better story to turn physical than being inspired by this cult classic film? We as a studio, have explored everything from foods to mundane office objects. We have yet to explore stories told in film,’ he shares.

Nik bentel recreates mendl’s pastry box into leather handbag

The Bentel’s Box Bag by Nik Bentel Studio is made of leather, complete with a blue ribbon on top of the box bag that serves as the accessory’s handle. On the sides, the delicate blue ribbon straps are long enough for the wearer to put on their shoulder and soft enough to prevent any skin abrasion. Their pastel hue, again reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s color wheel, complements the pink leather handbag. Just like modern pastry boxes, Nik Bentel’s Box Bag and its Wes Anderson-esque palette come with a magnetic closure that snaps when the wearer closes the lid.

Wes anderson’s pink and blue aesthetics for leather box bag

Even the typeface of Nik Bentel’s Box Bag flushes Mendl’s lettering and Wes Anderson’s font style together. A bold text BENTEL’S is printed at the center of the pink leather handbag, as if the creator opened his shop and were selling pastries himself. On top of it proclaims that his ingenious stunt comes from his studio, and the bottom announces where the pastry box handbags are made, New York City. The entire ensemble is borrowed from the visual pages of the fictional Mendl’s very own pastry box, with Nik Bentel’s name only being a bit spaced-out between the letters. 

Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, and his recent Asteroid City – whose real props and costumes landed in Milan at an exhibition in Fondazione Prada – are invoked through the colors of the ribbon and strap, while the entire Box Bag’s pink shade is shared between his aesthetics and the signature color of Mendl’s. The inside of the pink leather handbag is carpeted in suede, and lucky owners can even spot Nik Bentel Studio’s peeking mascot icon embossed in the bottom of the box, faintly printed.

As of publishing the story, The Bentel’s Box Bag is limited to only 300 units. Each pink leather handbag – inspired by Wes Anderson’s Mendl’s pastry box, colors, and movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel –  comes with a metallic identification card authenticating the limited edition, and Nik Bentel says that once all the units are sold out, there will not be any more made. Those who want to lug around or shoulder their very own Wes Anderson’s Mendl’s pastry Box Bag can head to Nik Bentel Studio’s site to order.

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project info:

name: The Bentel’s Box Bag

studio: Nik Bentel Studio