The Swag Bag
This bag breaks most of what I’ve been taught as an industrial design student. It is heavy, built for hand-sewn construction, and not optimized for function. Instead, I designed into the luxury bag archetype and studied the details that make an object feel premium: a stiff, sculptural stance; a closure whose ambiguous form nods to equestrian culture; seven brass feet that lift it off the ground; and dark edges burnished to a shine. It is designed for high perceived value, not utility.
I started it while studying abroad at London College of Fashion, and it traveled as a pile of panels through London, France, Providence, and Boulder before I finished it in Nashville during my internship at Unsung House. It took about 150 hours, entirely awl saddle stitched with linen thread. It is built at the scale of a Birkin 40 from thick Walpier Buttero, fully lined, with 2.4mm piping and rolled handles.
By industrial design standards, it’s an impractical product. As a sculpture and an exercise in slow craft, I’m proud of it.