Malibu Stacy has a new hat

Probably half because I bike, half because I travel, and half because I exist during apocalypse, I am into what could broadly be called “everyday carry.” In practice, this means I think a lot about what I carry around with me day to day in a big city with infamously harsh weather conditions. I own too many bags. I have overthought my key situation within an inch of its life. I think very carefully about what pens go with what bag. I have written over two thousand words about travel carry.

Most carry is made in large batches by established brands, and stocked by small to mid-sized distributors. This makes sense. You don’t manufacture just a handful of pens.

But I’ve lately been fascinated by one guy who designs EDC for larger brands, named Dan Matsuda, who, every Friday at 2pm Central Time, posts a few new handmade products on a page that he calls Sample. Sometimes he posts pins or patches; more often, though, he makes amazing 6”x9” “organizer pouches” out of unconventional materials, with materially similar forms. One example.

Carry objects usually have associated purposes with them. In this way, your hand is held. You buy a tech bag to carry tech stuff. You buy a dopp kit to carry toiletries. Matsuda, on the other hand, doesn’t provide many suggestions for what to put in his pouches. He doesn’t even really have any suggestions for how they fit into a broader carry strategy. He assumes you are smart enough to know what to do with each piece, especially since their prices match their handmade-in-USA, small-batch nature.