Handmade “Book Bags” Designed to Always Carry Your Favorite Novel With You

Who said book bags have to be boring? Krukrustudio, a one-of-a-kind shop based in Moscow, creates unique purses and backpacks inspired by a love of literature. Designed to look like your favorite novels, the bags put a literary and literal spin on the traditional book bag.

Krukrustudio is composed of Russian-born design duo Max and Lyuba, who founded the shop in January of 2011. “We started this project from scratch,” they state on Etsy. “It took about a month to find [the] right materials, draw sketches, make patterns and sew [our] first bags. Finally, we produced our first models for a chain of handmade shops in Moscow by March.” While they originally created “classical style” bags in felt, they eventually added cotton, leather, and faux leather to the mix, and started to experiment with different aesthetics. They abandoned their traditional designs and began creating “bag-objects,” purses that resemble everyday items from blimps to jam jars. Their “book bags” quickly proved to be particularly popular.

Each beautiful bag features iconic cover art from some of the world’s most beloved books. Ranging from classic coming-of-age novels like To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye to adored childhood staples like Le Petit Prince and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the eclectic collection covers a wide range of written masterpieces. While Krukrutudio’s Etsy shop has an awe-inspiring inventory of ready-to-ship and pre-made items, Max and Lyuba also invite customers to place custom orders to choose the desired size, material, color, and even cover art of their bag. “Service always seemed for us to be one of the key points of the craft,” Max explains in a post on Bored Panda. “So we always welcomed the custom orders – that’s the best way to find out what others need.”

Cleverly designed, highly personalized, and expertly crafted by hand, Krukrustudio’s literary creations are any bookworm’s ideal accessory.