On a recent trip to San Francisco, Kathryn Koegel noticed something magical: there were no bags in trees. Trees had been liberated from the humiliation of cheap plastic bags hanging from their branches – and known to last over 500 years. How? Because the city (like Chicago, Washington, DC, and Miami) had banned the bag.

Plastic bags were no longer given away, and in lieu of them, customers in stores had to buy reusable bags, or paper ones. Kathryn surveyed available reusable bags and tried several along with good quality paper. They all had a flaw: either too bulky (if made of cotton, they stank after a while), and she nearly lost her kids’ Valentine’s presents on Madison Avenue in a bag-sodden snowstorm.

The Steampunkt Re: Bag was born. The mom of one of Kathryn’s daughter’s BFFs is a top textile designer from South Africa whose art she admires. Kathryn worked with Heidi Chisolm to bring her vision to reality: an affordable Re:Usable bag made from Re:Cycled materials that was strong enough to tote groceries and stylish enough to be a purse. Today the Re:Bag is a canvas for visual artists based in and around Brooklyn. It’s made of polypropylene that contains recycled milk bottles. There are also bags for men called “Motes.”

Bags can be designed to any brand specifications, but they all must be reversible, with a signature repeating pattern on the inside. Got an idea? Just ask!

Heidi Chisholm was born in South Africa and she sees things through African eyes. The colors, patterns and mashups of style that are visible on the continent have inspired her for many years.

In 2008 she moved to Brooklyn from South Africa. It was very hard for her to leave her beloved country. It so happened that it was exactly at the time when Obama started running for President and it brought her two worlds together.

“I designed the Michelle bag to celebrate the first Black First Lady of the United States by capturing a very sweet moment where she was doing the hula hoop in a public school as she encouraged kids to eat healthy.”

Heidi is a renowned textile designer whose work has appeared in everywhere from boutiques in Paris to those of Miami. Her most recent patterns for fabrics have been used for pillows sold by West Elm.”

Kathryn Koegel is a media, marketing, interactive and mobile industr y veteran who lives to see the day we have a woman President.She is a journalist, market researcher and advertising copywriter whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, The Washington Post, Ms. GQ, Vogue and Advertising Age. Steampunkt Lab is her vision of using her marketing and market research background to bringing useful, sustainable AND beautiful products made in Brooklyn and the US to global markets.

Kathryn took a sideline into the re:usable bag business after building democracy in Eastern Europe and being fascinated by how everyone carried their own bags AND the streets were NOT littered with plastic. To the issue of NYC banning the bag, Kathryn says: “Bring it Bill DeBlasio – we have artists in Brooklyn standing by to create custom ones for every need.”

A one-time Californian, she’s a single Brooklyn mom of two teens who inspire her every day to advocate for public education and to create goods she’s really proud of.