The man in the picture is none other than Mario Prada. Yes, that Prada. Like many Italian leather workers who rose to prominence, Mario Prada made leather luggage for the class of people who could afford to travel in those days. He opened a leather goods shop in 1913, in Milan, Italy, along with his brother. They imported, designed and presumably made leather travel goods for an exclusive clientele.  One of their more popular leathers was walrus hide, used to make steamer trunks. As air travel came along after the war, the Prada brothers shifted towards handbags and lighter goods. (Early air travel not only restricted luggage weights, they even demanded that passengers sat in particular places on the plane to balance it.)

Mario Prada passed away in the 1950′s, and his granddaughter took over the company to make it what it is today. But, the heart of the Prada name was leather goods and leather craft. They cannot match a quality hand-made bag, but the design sense of Prada is something to emulate.

Not traditionally a bag maker, but aware of the great market awaiting them, Cartier is now producing the Cartier Marcello bag. For a large manufacturer, they seem to trying to make a really good bag (see the video page). Still, at over $1000 per bag, one could buy an well made, and very personal bag made by an artisan. The bag market has been very strong, and will only continue to grow. I posted this partly because the video is worth watching. Head over to the video page and enjoy!
Meanwhile for a look at mostly lower priced bags (to give you some design ideas, not pricing ideas as much) take a look at this leather briefcase website.