My old bag...

Over the years, many people have admired the large leather bag that I carry my printed samples around in. Yesterday I was in the reception at Draft FCB in London and I was accosted by two people who came over and asked where I got my bag. For those of you not familar with it, here it is:

I suppose the best way of describing it is like a saddle bag. It is very simply constructed using thick leather, strong binding material and a piece of wooden doweling which runs underneath the handle to stop it sagging. Anyway, it's a great bag which I bought in the Italian town of Stresa which is on Lake Maggiore back in 1997 when I went to Italy with my wife driving around the lakes (I did also drag her around a couple of paper mills!). I spotted the bag hanging up outside a cobblers shop. After I showed some interest in the bag, the cobbler explained that he used his left over leather to make these simple bags which he mainly sold to architects (he couldn't speak English but luckily Laura can speak Italian!) The closed size is around 570mm x 390mm and it's perfect for paper samples and wearing pretty well!

Anyway I bought it and the rest is history but I'm afraid I don't have any details of the shop, but do go to the Italian Lakes as they are stunning - Isola Bella is a beautiful island on Lake Maggiore and Stresa is a lovely town.

http://www.draftfcb.com/

http://www.visitstresa.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.08.2010