Broke and Bespoke

Vintage Hartmann Drop Handle Briefcase

I rotate between several different bags at work, but towards the end of the last school year (I’m a teacher) I began to rely heavily on this vintage Hartmann drop handle briefcase. I no longer needed to carry around as much stuff as I did at the beginning of the year, and so a briefcase that could manage a smaller load was more than adequate.

I found this vintage Hartmann piece a year or so ago at a local place called the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse for $15. It’s not really a thrift shop per se, but people do donate items that are then resold at deep discounts (as well as some free items) for creative types to repurpose into  works of art. For me, this Hartmann bag needed no repurposing, as it was already—in its own way—a work of art. Hartmann is a storied American luggage company that has been around since the late nineteenth century, and a similar bag is still made by them now—though the current offering is made of belting leather, and mine appears to be made of bridle leather.

If I recall correctly, I popped into the store on a whim, as I rarely have reason to go there, but I’m sure glad I did. Sometimes the best finds are serendipitous ones…