Filofax Architect Portrait Courier Bag

I had never considered buying a Filofax bag until recently. 

I spotted a Filofax bag on offer in their sale. It was still quite expensive but I had a discount voucher that I could use so it brought the price down a more sensible price.

So this is the Filofax Architect Portrait Courier, it's rather smart don't you think?

It came in it's own dust bag which I keep it in when I'm not using it.

It's bigger than I thought it would be. It has two main pockets which are very generous in size. Turning the bag over there is another slip pocket which will take an iPad or similar full size tablet. There is a grab handle at the top, and also a strap for looping the bag over a wheeled suit case handle.

The woven shoulder strap is very generous in width and it is also quite long too but it has a metal buckle to adjust the length.

Now in terms of what will fit inside.  The smaller front pocket has a variety of slots for pens and cards but still has enough room for other small items too, including a personal size Filofax!

The leather flap has a zip pocket in it as well, plenty big enough for your smart phone or similar. The flap closes with a magnetic fastener in the middle.

The slim pocket on the back can take an iPad easily, it has a velcro tab at the top to hold it closed too.

The main pocket can take an A4 Filofax or an A4 size zipped conference folder easily. I've also tried it for size with my 10" Netbook PC, and it slides in easily with space to spare. In the photo is an A5 Zip Holborn, that goes in sideways with plenty of room too. I think the biggest size of PC you could fit in would be a 11.6" display one, such as a MacBook Air or a similar sized Chromebook.

 

A large ring size personal Filofax as shown here also fits inside the front pocket easily. 

As you might be able to see on the detail of the front flap it is made of leather and textile lined inside. But the leather is a smooth finish and a pebbled finish in two distinctive panels.

Being a vertical format bag compared to the horizontal format of most messenger bags I find it retains it's rigidity a lot better. It also works better when I'm using my Cabin Zero bag on flights.

I'm very pleased with it, grab one for the man in your life for Christmas....

Calipso Bags

Filofax introduced the Calipso range of organisers a few weeks ago the organisers have featured on Philofaxy. But there are also hand bags  and  and briefcases/laptop bags available in the range too! The colours are rich and vibrant, I really like the blue briefcase.

Spicy Shades!

Bring a taste of the Tropics to your desk with the new Calipso range

Bring a taste of the tropics to your desk this season with the Calipso Collection – a NEW range of  fashionably on-trend organisers and complementary briefcases in vibrant spicy shades.  Made with sumptuously soft leather with a light grain texture, the organisers feature a fashionable and subtly contrasting croc print closure and are available in five must-have colours (Bright Blue, Deep Pink, Burnt Orange, Solar Yellow and Teal).  The matching simply designed briefcases are available in Bright Blue and Burnt Orange.

Calipso Modern Briefcase, £199 and Calipso Handbag, £139

Versatile and classic, these simply designed bags come in vibrant, spicy colours - brought to life in a clash of soft full-grain and contrasting croc print leathers.

Material Exterior: soft leather with a small grain texture

Material Interior: external leather and polyester lightly corded lining - colour matched to leather

·        

·         Calipso Handbag, £139

Height: 440mm

Width: 354mm

Depth: 85mm

Closure Detail: reverse nylon zip with two leather zip pulls

Calipso Modern Briefcase, £199

Height: 435mm

Width: 403mm

Depth: 87mm

Closure Detail: reverse nylon zip with two leather zip pulls

Available now from Filofax UK in blue and orange. 

Surprise!

What do we have here?

More to come soon...

Post Office Tool Case No. 3

Let me introduce you to the British Post Office Tool Case No. 3.

These tool cases have been around I'm told for over 50 years, I have two of them, one of them is about 40 years old, the other celebrates its 30th birthday this year! Whilst I didn't work for the 'Post Office' or British Telecom as it would now be or BT for short, I did work for a government organisation with close ties to the GPO, PO, BT etc.

So here are the two cases I have.

The older one is the one on the left and it's had a hard life! The only main differences between them is the ID pocket on the outside of the older one and the saddles on the handle strap are sewn to the case on the older one, where as they are riveted on the 'newer' one on the right.

Looking at the older one now in some more detail.

As you can see the leather is very soft and supple on this one. It's currently empty waiting for me to renew the zip on it. A job I did about 28 years ago as well as redoing some of the stitching. The leather hasn't had any special treatment since it was issued to me.

So opened out you can see the running loops running across the case for tools to slot in to, these can be varied in size and they tend to stay at the same tension all the time, no elastic is used, just leather.

The big pocket on the left is for small items and it is held shut with big press studs.

And moving on to the 'newer' one.

As you can see from the stitching the design is the same with only a few minor differences. Not quite a supple as the older one, but it is gradually getting there I guess, may be another 20 years and it will be as good.  It still has the original zip on this one, but the tag fell off some years ago and a cable tie has been serving that duty since!

And here is it fully populated with tools, some of the tools are the same age as the older case, still giving good service, no need to replace them. The side cutters are new though, these do become blunt or damaged with use. It didn't come with all of the tools you see, I added to it over the years, hence doubling up on the loops!

And again inside the pocket are some additional hand tools, bits and bobs etc.

The remarkable thing about these tool cases is that you can still buy them, not cheap I give you that, but as you can see they will last a life time! They are available from this company Canford in UK sizing details are in their own PDF file.

BagFinds

Here are some bag posts from around the Internet

1. What's In My Bag? Why, A Mobile Office, Of Course... - Giftie Etcetera
2. What’s in my bag: May 2013 - Pretty Green Tea
3. What's In My Changing Bag?! Miracle Bag Review.... - Sparkles and Stretchmarks
4. What's in my Bag - May 2013 - Daisybutter
5. What's In My Handbag ? - Sweet Elyse
6. Filofax and Coach - Purple is My Happy
7. Day 11 – What’s in your handbag? - Imysworld

Enjoy