The Cista Bookbag

Introducing our newest piece of specialty book luggage, The Cista. Named after the book totes used in Ancient Rome to carry books from a library out to a chair in an open-air colonnade*, our new bag carries the same spirit of taking books with you out into the world. Designed in collaboration with Ken Nishijo of Raregem Japan, a Japan-based cabinet-making studio and bag builder, this is a casual bag with serious construction and beautiful details. Made from #4 Selvedge Canvas (woven in small batches on looms imported to Japan from Belgium in the 1930s), and equipped with natural vegetable-tanned leather handles from one the oldest and best tanners in Tokyo. The remarkably precise stitching is all hand-done by Nishijo’s own family in his workshop. The natural canvas has a dirt-resistant starch finish, but this is a bag made to be used hard, age well, and last a lifetime. The Cista features a large interior pocket, a zip-top closure for travel, shoulder strap with brass hardware, open ba