Work in Progress

An inside look at the materials, the process, and the travel destinations that shape and inspire our work.
X-ray lightbox image of waxed canvas fabric swatch showing crease patina and internal thread structure
What Stays
The wax in a well-used canvas bag never fully cures. It keeps migrating, darkening the creases, recording how the bag was carried. That process is a material property, not a... Read more...
Close-up x-ray of a luxury metal zipper slider on illuminated lightbox, amber-orange outer form with cobalt blue internal mechanism visible
The Hand of It
The first time you close a Riri zipper, you notice before you can explain what you've noticed. A short essay on what the luxury zip decision actually means for carry... Read more...
Packable travel jacket compressed into its own pocket, x-ray view showing amber-orange nylon shell and cobalt blue internal structure, on illuminated lightbox
Still In
In May the system shows its hand. What stays in the bag is a design decision you already made, or one you're still paying for. Read more...
Packable travel jacket compressed into a tight bundle, x-ray view showing amber-orange outer shell and cobalt blue internal membrane layers on an illuminated lightbox
June in the Bag
Summer trips are being planned and the bag is being repacked for them. The question of whether the jacket goes in is the wrong question. At the right weight, it... Read more...
Bar tack reinforcement stitch on nylon webbing, x-ray lightbox
Where the Load Is
The bar tacks on a product are a map. Where the maker places them tells you which junctions were stress-tested and which ones weren't. Read more...
X-ray lightbox image of a packable jacket sleeve showing seam tape and waterproof membrane construction in amber-orange and cobalt blue
What the Test Misses
There's a gap between what a product test measures and what field use reveals. Factory tests answer the right questions about the wrong conditions. Read more...
YKK zipper slider mechanism x-ray lightbox
Read the Zip
There's a test you can do on any bag in about four seconds. Pull the main zip. What you find tells you more about the product than the hang tag... Read more...
Dressmaker's dummy in x-ray style on illuminated lightbox, amber-orange outer form with cobalt blue internal armature visible
What the Sample Teaches
The first product sample is never right. That's not a failure of the process, it's the reason to make it. What a prototype teaches about carry goods design cannot be... Read more...
X-ray of a digital travel luggage scale on an illuminated lightbox, amber-orange outer body with cobalt blue internal spring mechanism
How Heavy Feels
Weight appears on every bag spec sheet as a single number. But where that weight lives, and how it transfers to your body across a long day in transit, is... Read more...
X-ray close-up of an open notebook with a fabric swatch glued to the page on an illuminated lightbox
Committed to Paper
Keeping notes in apps is efficient in the sense that things are findable. What gets lost is the act of carrying ideas, and the difference between storing something and holding... Read more...
Second City
Second City
Twice a year for more than twenty-five years, Hong Kong. Canard founder's dispatch from last week: suppliers, boutiques, carry hardware, and the places that make the trip worth making. Read more...
Hold the Line
Hold the Line
Designing a compact umbrella properly means making decisions most of the category skips. A note on rib construction, canopy specification, and why the details that hold it together are usually... Read more...