We Found the Only Bag You’ll Need for Summer

This beauty was made for sunny days. | Photograph by Nell Hoving for Philadelphia Magazine.

Right now, the best reasons to eschew machine-made for hand-hewn are the raw linen satchels and deceptively simple leather totes coming out of Bri Brant’s Chadds Ford workshop.

The PhillyU grad’s five-year-old company, Arden + James — named for her son and a century-old artist colony in Delaware — mixes art and craft to luxurious effect, with hand-etched designs (she uses a pen-like branding tool to create the those linear details), hand-hammered copper rivets, and natural materials painstakingly sourced from local spots. The standout: Brant’s Arden bag, made of soft-milled, vegetable-tanned leather (from a Pennsylvania tannery founded in 1837). It’s the perfect way to carry summer’s bounty, from farmers’ market treasures to afternoon picnic essentials. The Details: $260; buy here.