FOCUSRocket Bag 
Bill Amberg
When the V&A opens its long-awaited exhibition, Bags: Inside Out, Bill Amberg’s update on the classic briefcase will take pride of place. It has been part of the museum’s permanent exhibition since 1996 but will be finally given its moment to shine, in an exhibition that celebrates the craftsmanship, design, style, and history of the bag.

Amberg, who now specialises in bespoke leather products, interiors and furniture, started out in 1984 from a small studio in Rotherhithe, making bags with an emphasis on quality materials and fine craftsmanship. His Rocket Bag, which was inspired by his then obsession with comics and 200AD, launched into the stratosphere in 1990.

‘I was into space and all that stuff,’ he says. ‘The aluminium castings and mechanical aspect leads you into a modern take on something.’ It was Amberg’s reinvention of the classic briefcase, unisex, constructed (with a rocket-like cross section) from vegetable-tanned bridle leather, using traditional saddlery techniques including cut and polished edges and saddle-stitching. It is uncompromising in its clean, modern lines, and is built to last a lifetime. To prove it, he’s recently had two bags returned to him for some TLC, both 25 years old and still very much in use. ‘They have lots of lovely patina,’ he tells me on the phone from his desk at his home in London. ‘They come up really nicely. They have a lasting appeal.’

Still holding its own 30 years on is quite an achievement. Amberg is happy that ‘one piece of work has the same validity now as it did then’.

To celebrate its museum status, Bill Amberg Studio is offering a unique opportunity to customise the interior of the Rocket Bag, with your own configuration of pockets to meet your personal needs. ‘Bags: Inside Out’ opens at the V&A on 21 November 2020, tickets from £12; vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/bags