Forty hours for one bag

The skin is chosen on Monday. By Tuesday, the artisan has drawn the pattern straight onto the hide, avoiding every scar the animal ever had.

Then come the saddle stitches — two needles, one waxed linen thread, eight stitches to the centimetre. A machine could do it in an hour. It would not last a lifetime.

“A bag should outlive the person who bought it.”