Market-Made Fa(Brick) Bags Part 1 — marchharedesign

Bags for all Occassions!

These bags get to see the world a bit before they fall into your hands, battle tested and showcased to the masses.

Part three of the commissioned works series while also being a more definitive part one of the Market-Made Portion of my journey. The work being done in the studio and at the booth continues to catch eyes, hearts, and minds, and in the case of this set: Flights! A few of this series had the pleasure of going across the country with me as I made waves outside of Michigan, namely in San Diego, California (on the Macro Scale) and Italy, Texas (on the more Micro Scale). Some were purpose-built, while others were coincidentally matching with what I had to offer, either way, this was a roaring success in the month of July, as events compounded to make MHD a name others would remember.

This set also includes one of my more zaney commissions, color scheme-wise, but I will let all of you be the judges regarding how it turned out, as it now resides in Ohio, as a camping bag. I was more than happy to work on it, and I hope it gets mileage when it is used.

These entries are pieces of me, I see my time constraints like the market hours or the time before a scheduled plane trip as less than deadlines, but as challenges, races to be won with technique and assuredness in my design. What I churn out manages to mesmerize and for that I am endlessly grateful because I am merely making what was once admired or fawned over able to be done so tenfold as a useable product. Feel free to scroll down this page to see what I came up with, where I took it, and in some cases, where it would end up next.

These two were made at my booth. I can’t help but be thankful for the Sunday Artisan Market for having outlets so that I can plug in and get to work on my vending days. There is a lot of time that passes, and the ability to actively work on straps or bricks, or even whole bags is invaluable.

The first two bags were planned and executed at the market, and the latter actually accompanied me to a meeting with a future material supply partner. The greatest part was that when I showed the man at the architecture firm the bag, he shared that his own thesis project back in school pertained to messenger bags and their significance in bringing cultures together, serendipity at its finest. I believe that the utility of the bags is incredible and with each person that gets to pick one up, flip it around, and feel the craftsmanship, I feel that much more humbled and assured that I am doing the right thing with the materials being graciously given to me.

This was one of my most important bags to date, it was the bag that accompanied me to the 2026 AIA (American Institute of Architects) Conference on Architecture and Design in Sunny San Diego, California. I had previously attended the 2025 Conference in Boston, Massachusetts with a less recent portfolio and the initial thesis scrap bag, but this time I’d come with the new portfolio, the new business cards, and this bag, made specifically to demonstrate my skills at the sewing machine, and the opportunity being presented to other designers of all walks of life. This bag got some incredible reactions from colleagues within the field and booth attendants throughout the expo proper in various capacities in and around the AEC industry. I met a few folks who were also more design-heavy and stated that my intentions with the bag were to capture the sand and sea of San Diego and to do so with a corresponding color scheme to my own outfits as well. I loved showing my craft, attending the lectures/seminars, and forging connections with both of my alumni networks, the next step will be to finally land an Architectural job where the bags can continue to be a conversation starter and an interdisciplinary outlet when the pressure of staring at a screen gets to be too much.

This medium bag was, as the name of the shell suggests, “Stamped for Approval”, as a custom order placed at my market table by an enthusiastic camper with a desire to have their own piece of art to take in their RV. I was more than happy to fulfill that request and then proceeded to walk them through the process of flipping through the pattern book and finding the right layout for the bag, discussing the number of handles and finally settling on a color palette. The color was one of the more fun aspects of creating this piece, because the request was to have the bag be “Completely Different from the Inside to the Outside” and as someone who makes reversible bags for a living, this was not exactly out of place, but the Magenta and Olive Green Colors that were selected did in fact throw me for a bit of a loop. Laying it out on my floor, I couldn’t help but be brought into Italy, which was incredibly ironic, wordplay-wise because shortly after piecing this together and making the shell, I was promptly whisked off to Italy, Texas, to attend the unveiling of a Texas Historical Marker for my Great-Grandfather, William Hobart Stafford, commemorating the committment he and his wife had for the continued education and pursuit of excellence of Students of Color within Texas. That moment was incredible to have been a part of and to every extent, a product of, and upon my return, I steeled myself to complete this bag and to continue my efforts toward a better future for myself and those that will come after me.

Commissioned Fa(Brick) Bags Part 2

Market-Made Fa(Brick) Bags Part 2