Tusting collaborates with India Hicks

Fifth-generation family-run business Tusting has launched a range of bags with designer and writer India Hicks that celebrate British design and craftsmanship.

The Tusting x India Hicks collection features three styles ranging from mini to large; ‘Sail’ an oversized carryall, ‘Soleil’ a versatile everyday tote, and ‘Snatch’ a top-handled “take everywhere” bag infused with the romance of train or steamer travel.

The three, unisex and elegant bags tell “a personal story,” explains Tusting, with each bag crafted in a durable thick cotton drill in stone with a distinctive orange-red lining, the colour of a Flame Tree in full bloom, seen in Hick’s Bahamian garden. While the washable drill fabric is from Ireland, where Hick used to go on holiday with her grandfather, and the lining is coated to be water-resistant, as Hicks is known to tote about bunches of flowers, wet bathing suits and the occasional puppy in her carryall.

Each bag has been handmade in Tusting’s Buckinghamshire workshop and numbered in Hick’s handwriting, but as with all Tusting bags, personal initials and messages can also be embossed onto the bag.

Alistair Tusting said in a statement: “The whole team here at Tusting is delighted to be collaborating with India who has been nothing but a pleasure to work with and whose enthusiasm for our team’s talents is so encouraging. We feel these designs play both to our core skills and to her fabulous eye for design in equal harmony.”

The collaboration is part of an ongoing creative relationship between Tusting and Hicks. The designer has turned to the brand to create bespoke accessories, most memorably a bespoke canvas and leather bag, complete with a monogrammed personal message, as a wedding present for her now-husband David Flint Wood.

The Tusting x India Hicks is available now, with prices ranging from 215 to 425 pounds.