On Friday, 2 October, the winners of the Estonian product design award BRUNO 2026 were announced at the Estonian Design Awards gala. In the lifestyle product category, the best design was our cellulose-fibre tote, designed by Stella Runnel and Henna Hintsanen.
We are delighted, and a little surprised too. For 15 years our studio has worked mainly with leather, and now the award went to a bag made from a plant-based material.
The twentieth BRUNO
BRUNO is awarded every two years, and this year it turned 20. The Estonian Association of Designers founded it in 2006, and it is named after Bruno Tomberg, who founded the design department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. 67 works were entered this year and 28 were nominated.
The international jury was Luke Pearson and Terry McStea from the UK, Jaume Domenech from Germany, Isabelle Vérilhac from France and Margot Vaaderpass from Estonia. In an interview with Sirp (in Estonian), Margot Vaaderpass named our bag as an example of how to address environmental questions: an everyday object in the designer's recognisable hand, made without any waste, and from a plant-based material instead of leather.
Photo: Raul Mee
Photo: Silver Gutmann
What makes the bag special?
The bag is made from a single sheet of Texon: the pattern follows the size of the sheet exactly, and nothing is left on the cutting table. Texon is made from FSC-certified wood pulp and carries the OEKO-TEX® certificate and the Vegan Trademark.
The bag is light and can go in the washing machine. The handles are adjustable, come off for washing, and are available in vegetable-tanned leather or leather-free. They run underneath the bottom of the bag, which gives it a high carrying capacity. It measures 40 × 32 × 12 cm and has an inside pocket.
The modular design extends the bag's life: if the Texon body wears out, it can be replaced while the handles stay in use, whether leather or leather-free. That way less material goes to waste.
Thank you to the international jury, to the Estonian Association of Designers and to Ilona Gurjanova, who has kept BRUNO going for 20 years. And thank you to the Estonian Design Centre, which organises the Estonian Design Awards every year and gives the design community a good nudge with them.
The cellulose-fibre tote is now on presale. You can read how the bag became a nominee in our earlier post.