Happy New Year! Let’s make 2026 superb!
Made for
Mondays. Joy. Travel. Chaos. Sandwiches. Life.
2025 Edition.
Everywhere.
For everything you do, and everywhere you do it.
8.45am. On a bike. Keys in one pocket, receipt in the other.
Crossing a field. Wet boots. Dog won’t listen.
Airport security. Belt off. Shoes off. Bag stays shut.
School run. One hand free. Everything else crammed in.
Festival. Dark. Dead phone. No signal. Bag still where you left it.
C+S utility bags are built for this. All of it.
Stiff at first.
Our 16oz, rain-proofed and reclaimed cotton canvas, starts out crisp – but relaxes with time.
We purposefully make our canvas stiff, full of colour with a light rain proofing treatment. This careful balance makes for a bag that develops character over time.
The bags are all re-waxable, washable, and because they’re only made from plant based fibres, are over 99% biodegradable – with all metal hardware that can be reclaimed / recycled or left to rust.
Some bags are made for climbing mountains
or jumping from airplanes.
We thought about that, once, but realised we really don’t like jumping from anything, and mountains… well, we’re not goats.
So instead, we focus on what we know: making bags and backpacks for real life. The kind that involves bike rides, the morning commute, kids, school runs, muddy fields, train delays, food markets, and the occasional great escape.
We live in the centre of Leamington Spa, in a 160-year-old terraced cottage with our cat Basil. We design everything here, and work closely with our brilliant partners in India, where every bag is lovingly made by our team of skilled artisans.
Our bags contain little to no plastic. They’re made from natural, durable cotton canvas, designed to be rewaxed, repaired and eventually biodegrade, because that’s how we believe things should be.
Thanks for stopping by. We hope you enjoy exploring the site, and getting a glimpse into what goes into keeping a small, independent business ticking in 2025. Tim
The making of Cora + Spink..?
We haven’t reinvented the wheel when it comes to making things — but we work hard to build a mindful approach to production that, we hope, leaves a positive impact on everyone involved with Cora + Spink.
Canvas
Our canvas begins with cotton yarn sourced from merchants in Haryana — one of India’s leading cotton-producing regions. The fibres are long-staple, around 3 cm in length, giving the yarn excellent tensile strength and a smooth texture. This length is critical — as it offsets the much shorter and irregular staples found in the reclaimed cotton we blend in, about 40% post-industrial reclaimed cotton. The fibres are spun to yarn, which is then woven into a tightly structured 16-ounce canvas using a simple plain weave.
Colour
Our canvas is dyed and treated in 500 kg batches just outside Kolkata, where colour accuracy and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. Using calibrated spectrophotometers and Pantone-matching systems, the 2025 dyeing process ensures consistent, deeply embedded colour across every batch. The dyes used are fibre-reactive, bonding chemically with the cellulose in the cotton to create long-lasting, wash-resistant shades. The process is fully REACH-compliant — and the final fabric is washable, rewaxable, and safe for long-term use.
After dyeing, the canvas is finished with a plant-derived stiffening agent that binds to the fabric structure, improving tensile stability and shape retention. A final rain-repellent treatment is applied, free from PFCs and PFAS, using water-based formulations that create a hydrophobic surface without compromising biodegradability.
Workshop
In late 2024, we moved operations to Kolkata and rejoined the original team who helped launch Cora + Spink over a decade ago. The Kolkata team — led by the three A’s: Abhishek, Animesh and Arpita — bring deep experience in sourcing, business, ethics and technology (to name a few). In just six months, they’ve helped turn long-held plans into practical reality — washable canvas included.
We still work in the same way we always have: hands-on, ethical and focused — but now with the added resources, skills and drive to go further. We’re building a sustainable and responsible business, while creating even more exciting products that give back to the community.
Who is we?
Tim Johnson, the creative force behind Cora + Spink, is passionately dedicated to crafting exceptional bags with a sustainable ethos. Alongside his other half, Mathilde, bring their combined expertise and vision to the forefront of the brand.
Embracing transparency and guided by a lifelong goal of fostering happiness, the Cora + Spink team in the UK and India come together with an exceptional set of talents and skills.
Money Makes the World Go Around?
Ethical Financing: A Backbone of Sustainable Business Practices. At Cora + Spink, our approach to life and business is deeply…
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Happy not perfect.
We make mistakes and we get things wrong. This is a learning curve. Our goal is simple – everyone, who touches a C+S product is happy.
Good relationships.
A people first ethos isn’t a gimmick, it’s the cornerstone for making a multi-dimensional impact with age old transparency.