LIMITED EDITION
India Hicks + Tusting
Celebrating British Design and Craftsmanship
For some time after closing my lifestyle business, it felt a bit like cheating on myself to carry a bag I hadn’t had a hand in designing. Looking back, it’s dizzying to think of our seasonal collections, made in numbers to meet demand, often in their thousands.
I now wanted to design in a different way, smaller, more limited, more reflective and my partnerships with Hester Bly and Pomegranate Inc have allowed me that. But I missed my bags and so when I stumbled onto the opportunity to work with Tusting, a family run business started in 1875 I did a little happy dance.
It feels right to be collaborating with this very British brand, which has passed through the hands of five generations and all the changes the world has seen in that time, weathering success and scarcity with equal grace.
Available here: www.tusting.co.uk
The Details
The three, unisex and elegant bags tell a personal story. Crafted in a durable thick cotton drill in Stone with a distinctive orange-red lining, the color of a Flame Tree in full bloom, seen in my Bahamian garden. The washable drill fabric from Ireland, where I used to holiday on summers with my grandfather, will be right at home on safari or a Scottish moor, or at sunset on a beach, with luxuriously soft yet super-tough Chocolate Montanasoft leather handles that will only get better with age.
Each bag has been handmade in Tusting’s Buckinghamshire workshop, where I delighted in learning from the second and even third generation artisans, and each is numbered in my handwriting, but as with all Tusting bags, personal initials and even messages can also be embossed onto the bag.
