An Exhibition of Ultra-Specific Leather Bags From Tsuchiya Kaban

Do you need a leather bag specifically for carrying a snowpal? Of course you do. And what about a watermelon? And where exactly do you plan on keeping those perfectly shaped skipping stones you picked up? Well that’s where Japanese leather goods maker Tsuchiya Kaban’s series of ultra-specific leather bags come in. And they are touring Japan as part of an exhibition starting today in Tokyo.

“The Fun of Carrying” is an initiative launched by Tsuchiya Kaban back in 2020 in which individual artisans are given complete creative rein to work on their very own side project. The first product that debuted was the Watermelon Bag, followed by the Snowpal Bag. The next year they also followed-up with a Wine Glass Bag and, most recently, a Skipping Stone Bag that can be worn around the waist or shoulder.

Each bag is a work of art in their own right, meticulously handcrafted by the artisan with care and attention to detail. If you’re in Japan, you can go see them for yourself in a travelling exhibition taking place at Tsuchiya Kaban retail outlets that will showcase the bags alongside video of the production process.

Dates are as follows:

The Watermelon Bag was made by craftsman Yusuke Kadoi, who is apparently a big fan of summer’s iconic fruit and decided to craft a bag specifically designed to carry the round and heavy watermelon.


With smooth, clean lines, high quality, water-resistant leather and a thermally insulated polyester inner lining, the Yukidaruma Bag, created by artisan Yuko Matsuzawa, ensures you and your snow sculpture will arrive in style.


Artisan Yuko Sasaki created an exquisitely twisted structure to hold in place a single wine glass. This design, in which a set of small parts forms a three-dimensional shape, was inspired by the glass manufacturing process itself.


Working with tanned leather which is initially submerged in water to increase plasticity, artisan Kei Namba stretched and molded the forms to create three-dimensional pockets for skipping stones.

3 Comments

  1. ….. the universe’s way of telling you that you’ve got too much goddam money. The best tool is an adaptable, multifunctional tool. My humble opinion.

    • You can use every single item here in an unintended way, just because it had a specific purpose in mind doesn’t mean you can’t use the snowman bag as a standard handbag.

  2. Looking at these as tools, is the wrong orientation. They are a gesture, a spirited response from a craftsman to an object. Making beautiful things can be an end to itself, uncoupled from economic considerations.

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