As the primary function of this collection is to shuttle small personal items, the Vehicle Series prioritizes practicality while experimenting with construction methods – none of the bags utilizes typical handbag assembly methods of gluing and stitching together smaller pieces of material and topping off with “binding” or “piping” to conceal the raw edges of the of materials. In contrast, several designs in the series feature scored-&-folded construction, allowing the material’s core color and edges to be showcased as graphic lines while structuring the bags’ volume so that most of the Vehicle Series is produced in small quantities in-house.

For durability, three featured bags are made from cowhides, the supply of which is intimately tied to global beef consumption, including the largest corporations such as McDonald’s. It is important to point out the myth that farmed animals were killed solely for their skins; the utilization of a cow goes from meat and organ consumption to the production of gelatine, pet chews, and pharmaceuticals such as hormones, enzymes, and other biological materials extracted for medical use.

The best way to honor the animals for their sacrifice in providing the materials imbued with beauty, and durability is to handle the materials respectfully, minimize waste, and make sure they are crafted with care into beautiful and meaningful products that last a long time. In handling the material with reverence, we often try to understand and imagine the animals’ lives through the clues their hides provide. For example, certain regions in Latin America allow ranch owners to claim animals wandering into their territories; thus, multiple brands are found on the hides.

Several designs of the Vehicle Series use the leather custom-tanned by Horween Leather, an over-a-hundred-year-old tannery in Chicago, to obtain the proper stiffness, workability, color, and finish for specific projects. The tannery also provides basketball leather to Spalding and Wilson to produce NCAA and NBA official game balls. The same basketball leather is featured in one version of the A4 Bag with a custom order for Yeh Design Lab. The custom batch is free of the game balls’ sticky grip finish while retaining a darker shade at every apex of the dimples. Make no mistake in romanticizing leather tanning; it is a water and chemical-intense process that stops the hides from composting/rotting and achieves desired material colors and properties. Vegan leather should be considered whenever appropriate, such as the design conceals the raw edges and the fabric backing of the material.