jack and marjorie

wideshortslimlong

2010-05-25T20:22:00.006-04:00

This is so very creative: Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga, of the company ANREALAGE, recently released his F/W 2010 collection, entitled Wideshortslimlong.
The idea is that all of the pieces have been distorted to become either wide/short, or slim/long. It's really very well executed - much of the clothing is remarkably wearable, (which isn't always necessarily a requirement with Japanese designers!)

Even the labels and hangers are sized accordingly:

from: Spoon and Tamago, ANREALAGE

roxton mini and online shop updates

2010-05-25T20:20:00.000-04:00

The roxton mini in two new leather colours (olive and brown) now in the online shop.
The brown is a chocolate-y brown with a slight hint of redness.
The olive version is only available in very limited numbers, since we're sadly now out of that fantastic leather.

We've decided to try something new with the online shop. Instead of trying (and failing miserably, clearly!) to keep the shop stocked with items, we're going to start offering custom orders of most current styles. You can order the same way as always: just click the 'add to cart' button. If the description says 'made to order; ships within 10 business days', it means we'll start work on your bag as soon as we receive the order.

yoshida-ryo dormitory - kyoto

2010-05-16T17:10:00.002-04:00

Looking for a place to stay in Kyoto? This is Yoshida-ryo, a student dormitory on the campus of Kyoto University. Despite the 200 yen (just over $2) a night price tag, this place probably isn't for most. Certainly not for me. But I found these photos - and the accompanying article - absolutely fascinating. Read about it here, if you like.

all photos from cnngo.com

2010-05-13T14:29:00.002-04:00

I love finding little hints of humanity on the materials we use, though it can make fitting the pattern pieces a challenge. This is a duffle bag that eventually became a big bellwood (handwriting not included on final product). Wonder how many hands it passed through before it came into mine?

For Toronto folk: Trap Door Boutique in the Junction is now carrying some jack&marjorie bags. It's a great shop in a lovely neighbourhood - if you haven't been, go!

new item spotlight: neko bag

2010-04-29T11:52:00.002-04:00

cotton shelter half tent canvas, vegetable tanned leather, leather rifle sling strap. $135 CAD

an updated version of a popular style. hobo-style bag with adjustable leather strap. fully lined with cotton/hemp twill blend. zippered pocket inside.

japanese kit kat

2010-04-22T22:58:00.003-04:00

I'm not usually one for packaged sweets, but when I saw these special Kit Kats at Narita airport, I couldn't resist. The verdict? Matcha flavour: good stuff. Royal Milk Tea: once was (more than) enough. I passed up the Soy Sauce and Wasabi versions. I'm thinking this was a good choice.

For some reason, Japanese Kit Kat was a hot topic around the internets awhile ago. Read more about the delicious flavour possibilities here and here.

In other news... I am buried under a mountain of boxes right now because we are moving this weekend! I'm looking forward to the new place, but the actual process of moving is the worst. Where did all this stuff come from??

bluebird handmade

2010-04-16T09:30:00.006-04:00

I dropped off some bags at Bluebird Handmade here in Toronto yesterday. It was my first visit, and wow, what a lovely shop! They have a small but very well curated selection of handmade items, many of which were new to me. And all of it is beautifully displayed:

Bluebird Handmade is located at 986 Bathurst Street, south of Dupont, and now carries a small selection of jack&marjorie bags!

2010-04-13T22:44:00.003-04:00

I think I'm probably the only person in the city who was loving the cold weather we had here in Toronto last week. Though I always prefer things on the chillier side, I was especially excited because it meant I could make use of the birthday present Manuel got me this year: a beautiful, soft, cozy wool blanket from MacAusland's Woolen Mills, on Prince Edward Island. Clearly, I'm not the only one who has been enjoying it; Lucy has barely moved from the sofa since it arrived!

tokyo food 2: ippudo

2010-04-09T09:31:00.002-04:00

I'm certainly no ramen connoisseur, but I loved Ippudo, a ramen shop in Ebisu. Delicious food, an atmosphere more pleasant than most, and friendly service. Apparently, there is a branch of Ippudo in NYC too.

There are raw garlic cloves and a press on every table so you can add it to your bowl to taste. The guy in the red pants put about 15 cloves in his bowl, yikes!:

Later, in Naka-Meguro, a cute little car turned coffee stand:

If you're hoping to gorge yourself on ramen in Tokyo, you should check these blogs out first:
Ramen Adventures
Go Ramen
Ramenate

new item spotlight: mitaka tote

2010-04-06T19:40:00.004-04:00

cotton duffle bag canvas or east german camouflage.
$125

white top stitching and leather patch detail at base of straps. double pocket on front. fully lined with hemp/cotton twill. zippered pocket inside. magnetic snap closure.

sally scott, 10632 ohio: 4741-9842. no dogs. two cats.

2010-04-06T10:30:00.000-04:00

Sally Scott is a concept brand based around a fictional girl, designed by Akira Minagawa, who also happens to be the director for the popular mina perhonen.

We stumbled upon this shop while searching for mina perhonen, which is upstairs in the same building in Shirokaneidai, a sleepy stop on the Tokyo Metro Mita line.

I love both the clothing and the styling; the photography is so perfect.

Although there are several other Sally Scott shops in Tokyo, it sadly is not available outside of Japan.

tokyo food 1

2010-04-04T21:15:00.000-04:00

In February, Manuel and I took a trip to Tokyo! We hadn't been back since we moved from Japan to Canada a bit over 5 years ago, and it was unbelievably fun to go back as a tourist. One of the best things about the trip was being able to gorge ourselves on on the food that we had been craving since we moved away. Here's some of what we ate:

Not really a food destination, but one of our first stops was Tokyu Hands, a store that sells virtually everything. If you are in Tokyo for the first time, this store is a must-visit. In particular I highly recommend the cosmetics floor, for some 'only in Japan' moments. We were there just before Valentine's day - just in time to witness Japan's crazy consumerism at its finest. Don't knock it though: we started the day off right with some yummy corn chocolate from Hokkaido.

The Takashimaya basement was probably my favourite stop of the first day. Department stores in Tokyo usually have a basement (depa-chika in Japanese) full of food vendors - row upon row of prepared food, sweets, basically pure deliciousness. I had forgotten how amazing these places are; I was grinning like a fool the whole time we were in there. If you have only one day in Tokyo, I would suggest coming to one of these places, as you can find a stunningly wide variety of choices all in one location. Besides Takashimaya, my favourites are Isetan (also in Shinjuku) and Tokyu in Shibuya.

Maki snack:

Gyoza Rou - Harajuku:

Gyoza Rou was a nostalgic choice, though we definitely aren't the only fans. If you go at a peak time, it's likely you'll have to wait for a table, but as we were there on a weekday, well after the lunch hour, it was only about half full. When we lived in Tokyo it was our favourite place to go for gyoza, mostly because the gyoza are delicious, but also because of the youthful atmosphere - not full of salary-men, but a younger, hipper, more varied crowd.

We had the pan-fried (yaki) and boiled (sui) gyoza, rice/miso soup, cucumber with a sesame dressing (kyuuri), bean sprouts (moyashi) with a spicy miso/meat topping.

Gyoza is one of those things that although you can find them in Toronto, they just never seem to taste quite right. These ones were perfect.

Something else we forgot about: that smoking is still permitted in many restaurants here. A girl sat on the other side of the counter from us, chain smoking. To our relief, she eventually left - revealing a young family behind her, mother bottle-feeding their baby, father enjoying a smoke not two feet away.

Tsunahachi Tempura Shinjuku

For our first dinner in Tokyo, we went with our friends Rob and Emi to Tsunahachi, an almost century old Tempura restaurant in Shinjuku.

The tempura arrived 2-3 pieces at a time, so everything was crispy and fresh.

more to come...

new item spotlight: nakano bag

2010-04-04T21:06:00.004-04:00

vegetable tanned leather, duffle bag canvas, leather rifle sling strap. $160 CAD

two pockets under flap, magnetic snap closure, removable and adjustable strap. zipper closure into main compartment.
fully lined with hemp/cotton twill and inner pocket.

compact size perfect for bike rides or a night out!

spring and my talented friends

2010-04-03T19:07:00.002-04:00

My friend Andrea was the first person I know to have a blog. She started green tea years ago, and has somehow managed to continue to post entertaining and varied content - on a regular basis, no less (I marvel...). As if that weren't enough, she's quite the photographer as well (check out her photos from her recent trip to Bhutan). I'm not sure why I didn't think of asking her sooner to help me take some photos of the bags, but I finally did. So on a recent rainy Sunday - along with former jack&marjorie intern, and all-around lovely person, Stephanie as model - we took some photos. Despite the gloomy weather, they turned out really well! Thanks Andrea and Steph, you're the best!

We will be posting more info on the new bags here and on the main site over the next few days.

2010-01-20T09:53:00.005-05:00

Happy 2010! Hope it's been good to you so far.

We are going to be adding some new items to the shop in the next week or two. The quince pouches and madeline bags are now back in stock.

Just finishing up a few new quince pouches this week. This is one I made as a custom order for a very sweet customer - I cleaned up the studio a couple of weeks ago and dug out a piece of my beloved vintage ticking fabric, so I thought I would use it as lining. So cute!

If you purchase a quince online in the next couple of weeks it will have the ticking lining. The strap on the quince has also been changed - from the wider cotton webbing to a narrower nylon parachute cord. I think it works better, and the straps is now removable as well, in case you want to use your quince as a makeup case, like I do.

Custom orders:

If the style you are looking for is sold out in our online shop, it may be possible for us to custom make it for you. (depending on what materials we have available at the time). We are happy to make you any of our current styles with the leather colour of your choosing. Right now we have some beautiful aniline leather in chocolate brown, and black. Email us and we can send you a swatch, if you like.

2009-09-29T21:44:00.002-04:00

roxton mini - surplus wool blanket and duffle: $125

roxton mini - red/brown leather and surplus wool blanket: $135

bellwood bags (big and small)

2009-09-23T21:26:00.002-04:00

bellwood (big): $195, available with canvas or wool body

bellwood (small): $185, available with canvas or wool body

2009-09-21T20:49:00.005-04:00

Oh, hello there!

How was your summer? Since it's officially fall (yesss!), it's definitely time for an update.

Two new styles, to start:

jarvis tote: $255 (CAD), also available in grey/blue canvas.

roxton: $240 (CAD), also available with in brown leather.

2009-08-06T21:15:00.001-04:00

I was never good at keeping up journals...

Taking a bit of a summer vacation, but be back soon!

2009-07-01T22:42:00.001-04:00

Making things is an unavoidably wasteful business; we inevitably end up with piles of fabric scraps, no matter how carefully we plan our cutting. But we do try to save some of our scraps for future use so they don't all go into the landfill.
(This is especially important now that the garbage strike in Toronto is in full swing - ugh!)

(Here's Mhairi printing)

One thing we use our tent scraps for is to make our 'jack&marjorie' labels for inside of the bag. To do this, we use this great little machine: the print gocco. It is basically a mini screen printing machine that is super-easy, fast and tidy to use.
There are a few different machine sizes available; this one prints postcard size, which works pretty perfectly with our smaller scraps.

The machines are from Japan (can't you tell by how cute it is?!), which is where I bought mine.
Unfortunately Riso, the company that makes it, decided not to produce the machines and supplies anymore, despite outcries from the online crafting community. But there are still places online the components can still be found.

Happy Canada Day, Canadians!

millicent and kang (cecil)

2009-06-18T22:19:00.002-04:00

These are my great grandparents on my father's side, Millicent and Kang. This photo is something I really treasure: I've amassed a good photographic history of my ancestors on my mother's side of my family, but on my dad's side this is all I have.

Aside from that, how rare is it to see an inter-racial couple in a photograph of this age?

edit: my dad told me that my great-grandfather actually went by the name Cecil. He also said this photo is likely over 100 years old, since my 95 year old granny believes it was taken before she was born.

2009-06-08T22:26:00.000-04:00

I was given my grandmother Marjorie's sewing box (yes, that Marjorie) a few months ago -
It's pretty cute, with lots of vintage-y looking sewing stuff inside to look at, but there are a few things that especially stand out for me:

My grandfather Jack (yeah, that Jack) worked for a moving company, and it seems that these were business cards he gave out to the 'lady of the house'. It's a sewing kit! (With a 'so/sew' pun no less, which I normally hate, but I guess since it's so old it's okay).

I'm not entirely sure what this is - a long thimble? Whatever it is, it was given out by the Bell Telephone company (where my grandmother did actually work for a time). On the other side is says: "Tell your friends about good job openings at the Bell".

Imagine getting something like this nowadays; at best it would be strange, at worst, offensive (a major corporation distributing sewing notions with ads looking for 'girls!'). But that's what makes all this stuff so charming, I guess.

neko bag

2009-06-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

This is a somewhat updated version of an old style, the neko bag. This particular bag is made from one of those WWII tents (from around 1950), that I mentioned before. And it looks old too; the fabric is faded with some small holes, but the bag look all the better for it, I'd say...
I'm going to be putting this one in the etsy shop soon, once I get it all set up. (and I'm hoping having written it here will be the impetus I need to just get it done!)

crown jars

2009-05-28T22:23:00.004-04:00

Like many others, I love using vintage canning jars to display my various collections. This one is my favourite; it was bought as-is, with the old spools of thread already inside. It came from my beloved -yet now sadly departed! -
Antique Warehouse in St. Jacobs. (although there is another one in Stratford, Ontario). The wooden spools are so much lovelier than the plastic ones we get nowadays...

I used to use skeleton keys on some of the bags. Now they're just decoration:

All my jars have the Crown emblem, which apparently means they were made in Canada. They all cost less than $3, though they can be sold for much more, depending on age and condition.

And in other news:
A few of our spring bags are included in this feature on Canoe.

my ontario:

2009-05-25T22:21:00.000-04:00

Look - the blue clementine clutch is featured in the new Ontario tourism brochure!
See it here.

(thanks for letting me know, Stephanie!)

barb hunt

2009-05-21T22:21:00.002-04:00

I discovered the work of Canadian artist Barb Hunt some time ago, but was reminded of it again by a post on Arounna's site.

The pieces in the camouflage series use fabric from used military uniforms and camouflage patterns to create something that is at once rugged and beautiful:

And the antipersonnel series features replicas of antipersonnel land mines knitted with pink wool:

If you are in the Toronto area, there is a great looking show on now until June 21st at the Harbourfront Centre - Lookit,Lookit,Lookit - featuring Barb Hunt and 7 other Canadian artists.

mintdesigns

2009-05-19T19:52:00.002-04:00

Tokyo-based mintdesigns are among my most-loved Japanese designers.

They're best known for their gorgeous, vibrant prints. These images are from one of my favourite collections: Spring/Summer 2008.

Love love the hot air balloons! You can see more current work on their website and webshop. (Unfortunately, you must live in Japan to order from the online shop).

ticking

2009-05-14T21:22:00.000-04:00

I've always loved vintage ticking fabric, but haven't used it on a bag until now.

Ticking was originally used to cover matresses and feather pillows. The heavy, closely woven fabric was used to prevent feathers, hay (or whatever else) from poking out between the threads.

Ticking is easily recognizable by it's stripe print, most commonly a blue stripe on a white backing. It's a great material for lightweight summer bags.

This is the 'adelaide' bag:

and the 'clementine' clutch (with brown/red leather)

See more on the main site, and in our online shop!

muji

2009-05-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

There are so many things I miss about living in Tokyo, but Muji is definitely near the top of the list. Muji is ubiquitous in Tokyo, with shops near, or even inside most major train stations.

Muji (which translates to No Brand in Japanese), sells everything from furniture to stationary to clothing. But my favourite thing about it is the design aesthetic, which is simple and unadorned, with most items in neutral colours. The products are both inexpensive and well-made.

In MUJI's own words:

"Our goal of offering products that excel in quality at lower prices has been achieved by avoiding the waste typical of much product-manufacturing and distribution - in the form of unnecessary functionality, an excess of decoration, and needless packaging".

Great, right?!

I love a good pen:

This notebook is amazing; perfect for those of us who aren't really into using day planners, but kind of need one:

Read more about it here.

There are now a number of Muji stores around the world, but none in Canada as of yet. Canadians can, however, purchase online from this site, although the selection is very limited compared to the Japanese site.

original recycled military surplus

2009-05-07T23:34:00.001-04:00

I had seen this Jens Risom chair before, but didn't know much about it until I happened upon an article about the most influential mid-century modern designers.

What's amazing about this chair is that it was constructed with surplus military webbing! Because it was produced under wartime materials mandates during WWII (aforementioned webbing and birch wood were among the few materials available), it was one of the only pieces of modern furniture available at that time.

Although the chair is no longer available with the surplus webbing (a pair of the originals was recently auctioned off in NY for more than $5000), a modern version is available with updated materials.

Love this photo:

George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom Playboy Magazine, July 1961.

shelter half tents

2009-05-06T20:15:00.001-04:00

One of the military surplus materials we use most is the shelter half tent (also known as a pup tent). These tents have been used by the U.S. army as shelter in the field since the Civil War.

We love using them because:
- they have built-in design details like seams and snaps. We try to include these elements in the bags as much as possible, not only because it saves us work, but because they look so much more interesting than anything we could come up with.
-each tent is similar, but most have small variations, which in the end makes each bag unique.

They are called shelter halves because two 'halves' are snapped together to make up one tent. We use the sections of tents with these snaps as bag closures: look for them on the madeline, augusta, and ossington bags on our site.

A great caption accompanied this photo:
"With the grace and dexterity of a master dressmaker, this attractive young woman fabricates "pup" tents for the expanding war army at the Langdon Tent & Awning Company."

A similar caption could be written for this pic:

(The lovely Ching-Mei working for the cause)

The majority of tents we use are from around the Vietnam Era, but occasionally we get an older one, from WWII. These ones are my favourites; they are a lighter sage green colour with white stitching, and buttons instead of snaps. We recently made a one-off bag from one of these tents, which we'll be putting in the shop soon.

ossington

2009-05-05T23:59:00.001-04:00

ossington bag with elephant leather.

We took several of the new bag names from Toronto streets and neighbourhoods. Ossington is where all the cool kids are. Especially here.

welcome

2009-05-04T22:30:00.000-04:00

augusta bag with black leather