So I stumbled upon a more simple, modern version of a waxed canvas bag by bookhou, a little design company in Toronto cofounded by John Booth and Arounna Khounnoraj in 2002 to showcase their individual and collaborative work. They are a multidisciplinary studio that emphasizes natural handmade materials and small production pieces.

This bag uses waxed canvas made by the same American family since the 1800s, and upcycled leather for the zipper pull and strap. And guess what, I bought it. Yay bags!

I’ve been an admirer of bookhou for over a year and I’m excited to support them and own some of their work.

Here is the other bag I mentioned, made by Strawfoot Handmade. I love the whole concept/idea here; independent artist, US-made, hand-sewn on a vintage machine… Inspired by styles and designs from the early 1900‘s, waxed canvas is the primary fabric used, as well as vegetable-tanned natural leather and solid copper rivets. This creates not only an extremely strong bag, but one that looks slightly weathered and that will age beautifully with time. I work in a small workshop in Santa Cruz, Ca with a vintage sewing machine and hand tools. All bags are designed and sewn by myself on a part-time basis, which means that production is rather limited. Strawfoot Handmade values American-handmade products that will last a lifetime and serve as a functional part of daily use. - Garrett Kautz Check out his blog here and shop here. This is probably my favorite color combination for the tote bag but is unfortunately sold out, so I’m going to keep my eye on the shop for a while and see what comes up.
View Separately

Here is the other bag I mentioned, made by Strawfoot Handmade. I love the whole concept/idea here; independent artist, US-made, hand-sewn on a vintage machine…

Inspired by styles and designs from the early 1900‘s, waxed canvas is the primary fabric used, as well as vegetable-tanned natural leather and solid copper rivets. This creates not only an extremely strong bag, but one that looks slightly weathered and that will age beautifully with time. I work in a small workshop in Santa Cruz, Ca with a vintage sewing machine and hand tools. All bags are designed and sewn by myself on a part-time basis, which means that production is rather limited. Strawfoot Handmade values American-handmade products that will last a lifetime and serve as a functional part of daily use.

- Garrett Kautz

Check out his blog here and shop here. This is probably my favorite color combination for the tote bag but is unfortunately sold out, so I’m going to keep my eye on the shop for a while and see what comes up.

I have a thing for bags. I love how they are so utilitarian and necessary (and have probably existed as long or longer than clothing has in human history), but at the same time can be almost infinitely customized and arted up. I own several bags I really love, though I’m always chasing that elusive ‘perfect’ bag (simultaneously realizing there probably isn’t one). Currently I’m stuck on this idea of handmade bags, namely waxed cotton canvas utilitarian-yet-awesome bags. This one by Peg and Awl is seriously cool — the leather is reclaimed from vintage military applications. It might just find its way into my collection. There is a competitor bag for my waxed-canvas affections however; I’ll post about it soon.
Pop-upView Separately

I have a thing for bags. I love how they are so utilitarian and necessary (and have probably existed as long or longer than clothing has in human history), but at the same time can be almost infinitely customized and arted up. I own several bags I really love, though I’m always chasing that elusive ‘perfect’ bag (simultaneously realizing there probably isn’t one).

Currently I’m stuck on this idea of handmade bags, namely waxed cotton canvas utilitarian-yet-awesome bags. This one by Peg and Awl is seriously cool — the leather is reclaimed from vintage military applications. It might just find its way into my collection. There is a competitor bag for my waxed-canvas affections however; I’ll post about it soon.

I got several ammonite fossils for Christmas! Here’s a closeup of the most striking. More to come later on when I get a chance. flickr
Pop-upView Separately

I got several ammonite fossils for Christmas! Here’s a closeup of the most striking. More to come later on when I get a chance.

flickr

geoluhread

Etymology neat-o for the day:

Before the English-speaking world was exposed to the fruit, the colour was referred to as geoluhread (yellow-red) in Old English and Middle English.

wikipedia

See some fantastic vintage science ads from the 50s and 60s here. [full set on Flickr]
Pop-upView Separately

See some fantastic vintage science ads from the 50s and 60s here.

[full set on Flickr]

Today I learned:

…that there is a rotisserie chicken TV channel available in Canada.

onion of infinite leaf is now a book! The inaugural 2011 edition is now available in this 64 page volume containing a collection of hand-picked photographs from my daily-life mobile photography, all taken in 2011. Visit onion of infinite leaf to see or follow all of my daily-life mobile photos.

Another fish plate for my collection of fish plates. Yes I collect fish plates. But only slowly, as I find awesome ones like this. I love how crazy and barely fish-like but just-fish-like-enough this one is. Great interpretation of the tail.

In the late ‘60’s I worked for Bell Labs for a few years managing a data center and developing an ultra high speed information retrieval system. It was the days of beehive hair on the women and big mainframe computers. One day I took a camera to work and shot the pictures below. I had a great staff, mostly women except for the programmers who were all men. For some reason only one of them was around for the pictures that day. - Lawrence Harley “Larry” Luckham These photos are great, and I love the attention to detail in hair and fashion. What strikes me about some of the women in these photos is that I’m always cold at work, so I can’t really imagine wearing a sleeveless shift dress and not perishing. via.
Pop-upView Separately

In the late ‘60’s I worked for Bell Labs for a few years managing a data center and developing an ultra high speed information retrieval system. It was the days of beehive hair on the women and big mainframe computers. One day I took a camera to work and shot the pictures below. I had a great staff, mostly women except for the programmers who were all men. For some reason only one of them was around for the pictures that day.

- Lawrence Harley “Larry” Luckham

These photos are great, and I love the attention to detail in hair and fashion. What strikes me about some of the women in these photos is that I’m always cold at work, so I can’t really imagine wearing a sleeveless shift dress and not perishing.

via.

Basket stars are incredible looking creatures. Watch this one react to some tiny crustacean food.

krgkrg: Sigmar Polke’s Agate Windows in Grossmünster, Zurich
Pop-upView Separately

krgkrg:

Sigmar Polke’s Agate Windows in Grossmünster, Zurich

A nature-lover has revealed how he spent two days tracking down a giant insect on a remote New Zealand island – and got it to eat a carrot out of his hand. Mark Moffett’s find is the world’s biggest insect in terms of weight, which at 71g is heavier than a sparrow and three times that of a mouse. via.
Pop-upView Separately

A nature-lover has revealed how he spent two days tracking down a giant insect on a remote New Zealand island – and got it to eat a carrot out of his hand.

Mark Moffett’s find is the world’s biggest insect in terms of weight, which at 71g is heavier than a sparrow and three times that of a mouse.

via.

This image was captured to Sandbar, Grand Cayman during my last trip. This beautiful creature turn around you very close and you can touch it. This is a really amazing experience, you are surrounded by dozen of this friendly animal. Sandbar-Grand Cayman-Caribean (Photo and caption by Gazzaroli Claudio/Nature/National Geographic Photo Contest) via.
Pop-upView Separately

This image was captured to Sandbar, Grand Cayman during my last trip. This beautiful creature turn around you very close and you can touch it. This is a really amazing experience, you are surrounded by dozen of this friendly animal. Sandbar-Grand Cayman-Caribean (Photo and caption by Gazzaroli Claudio/Nature/National Geographic Photo Contest)

via.

Nemesis

Drama on the high seas…