The laundry bag that's perfect to hang up in your Manhattan "loft apartment" or take with you on the Orient Express. And when it's full, button it up and carry it. It looks like a beautiful piece of luggage.

The exquisite tapestries and beautiful, plain cottons, are tough, washable and have a timeless elegance. This laundry bag will last you a long, long time. In fact, we think it will become a family heirloom to be passed on from one generation to the next.

Carefully cut for a slight taper and a perfect match between collar and body, the fabric edges are individually overlocked, even though they aren't visible. All the seams are additionally top stitched for ultimate strength and for that absolutely perfect finish. And don't worry about the weight. The woven support cords that hold the brass rings and wooden toggles are triple stitched to the bag and have been tested to 80kg breaking strain.

This quality of materials and workmanship, although once common, is today, sadly lacking, and we looked to the past for our inspiration.

In fact, we've based it on the bag Carol's mother made and used, to take the family laundry to Mr Chin's. It reflects the classic elegance and practicality of an earlier New York. Carrying the weekly wash from their fourth floor walk up apartment, on 82nd Street, to Mr Chin's Laundry on 2nd Avenue was a ritual, and the bag was made for the journey.

Carol's commercial artist father and her couture dressmaker mother designed and made the bag to be beautiful and practical. And since it had to withstand the bumpy walk up and down four flights of stairs, the rigours of New York streets, as well as the judgement of Mr Chin, the bag had to be just right. And it was. So in family history it soon became known as "Mr Chin's Laundry Bag".

And, with a few practical changes, this is the bag we make for you.

As with the original, it's the attention to every detail that makes this  laundry bag extra-ordinary. The collar is as elegant as it is innovative. It stays open for easy filling when hanging, and closes securely when buttoned up to carry. At 75cm deep and 55cm wide, it's generous enough to take a week of laundry for two but just the right size for you to carry.

The clever design is simple to use. Just button the cord to the brass ring at the back and you've got a hanging loop. When it's time to go, close the collar, reposition the cord and it becomes your handle, making it secure and easy to carry.

So even in laundry bags you can choose the extra-ordinary.

And one more thing. In honour of Mr Chin, we've finished the hanging cord with a distinctive glass bead. Hand picked for each bag. Just for luck!

At $110.00+p&h for exquisite tapestry and $90.00+p&h for the beautiful, rich cotton, it's more than a life time of practical elegance with a New York accent.

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Featured as Accessory Of The Week in the Weekend Australian, this is Susan Kurosawa's take on Mr Chin's Laundry Bag.

"There's nothing worse than dirty laundry mixing with clean clothes inside your suitcase. A plastic bag can solve the problem but a much more elegant solution is...Mr Chin's Laundry Bag"

Susan is an expert on dirty laundry in suitcases.  As Senior Travel Editor for The Australian, she travels all over the world.  When writing her first book, 'Coronation Talkies' a tale about post-independence India, she made more than 30 visits to India on her regular hops between Japan, Australia and England.