Your bag works hard: it pulls long shifts, schleps heavy goods and even shoulders some of your responsibilities.

It would be a disaster if it ever went on strike.

Make sure that never happens by employing a Salar. Made by hand in Milan, the lamb- and calf-leather bags are the brainchild of Salar Bicheranloo, who studied industrial design in Mexico City (so you can be sure they’re built to last).

Together with partner Francesca Monaco — who cut her design teeth at Costume National — Bicheranloo creates purses that are tough but feminine: soft shoulder bags in washed-out pastels are given a hard edge with knife-pleated leather, and structured, cross-body versions are amped up with oversize stitching and gleaming hardware.

After all, a workman is only as good as his tools.

Available online at salar.it, £130-£340.

Photo: Courtesy of Salar